The Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has ordered the arrest of two directors of Keroche Breweries Limited over Sh14.4 billion tax evasion allegations.
The allegations against Tabitha Karanja and her husband Joseph Muigai relate to tax fraud on various products manufactured and sold by Keroche between January 2015 to June this year.
The two are the founders of the business that was established on August 1997 in Naivasha on the edge of the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway.
In a statement, Haji said that the products in question attract excise duty and Value Added Tax.
Haji said that the Kenya Revenue Authority commissioner general submitted to his office a file for perusal and consideration on August 18 after completing investigations into the allegations.
“The audit by KRA established that Keroche Breweries Limited had evaded the payment of tax totalling Sh14,451,836,375,” he said.
He said the amount in question is Sh12.2 billion VAT and Sh2.1 billion excise duty.
The products involved are Summit beer, Crescent Vodka and Vienna Ice – a ready to drink vodka
“Having independently reviewed the file and applying the provisions of the National Prosecution Policy, I am satisfied that there is sufficient evidence and that is in public interest to charge the suspects with 10 counts of tax fraud contrary to section 97 (a) and (c) of the Tax Procedures Act, 2015,” he said.
Tabitha Karanja is the company's CEO and is known for her contribution to liberalising the liquor industry in the country.
In 2015, Karanja received the Transformational Business Award, a continental recognition organised by OCP Group and the African Leadership Network (ALN).
In 2014 she won the CNBC East Africa Businesswoman of the Year Award and subsequently the CNBC Africa Businesswoman of the Year Award.
She was honoured by retired President Mwai Kibaki in 2010 with the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (M.B.S.) Award.
Keroche has been striving to increase production in an effort to claim at least 20 per cent of the local beer market.
The brewery currently controls only two per cent of the nation's beer market.
East African Breweries Limited gets over 60 per cent of its net sales from Kenya and controls nearly 90 per cent of the beer market share.
(edited by O. Owino)
