• Galot is charged alongside London Distillers Kenya Limited.
• Mutuku ordered him released on Sh1 million bail or Sh5 million bond.
A director of London Distillers Limited was on Monday charged in a Nairobi court with tax evasion amounting to Sh2.1 billion.
Mohan Galot, 79, was charged alongside London Distillers Kenya Limited with 18 counts of tax evasion related offences.
Galot is accused of unlawfully omitting from excise duty returns for 2016 production volumes totalling to 164,593 litres for ready to drink and 2,902,661 for spirits.
He allegedly committed the offence between January 1 and December 31, 2016.
He was charged with a second count of failing to pay excise duty amounting to Sh524,425,063 for 2016.
Galot is further charged with failing to pay excise duty of Sh814,531,858 for 2017.
The court heard that he failed to pay excise duty amounting Sh171,126,307 for January 1 to December 31, 2019.
It is alleged that between January 2016 and December 2018, Galot activated 1,610,150 stamps in the Excisable Goods Management System (EGMS), representing a production equivalent of 527,250 litres.
According to the police, the taxpayer, however, declared and paid taxes for 359,162 litres in the same period.
The report by the police also established that for the period under investigation, the taxpayer purchased 272,989,752 bottles.
Galot denied the charges before Milimani chief magistrate Martha Mutuku and, through his lawyer, pleaded for lenient bond terms.
He said the case was before the tax tribunal and the Kenya Revenue Authority had instructed him to lodge an appeal.
Galot said they need all the documents to be availed to them by the prosecution.
The prosecution did not oppose his release on bail, but urged the court to consider the nature of the case and the severity of the punishment in case he is found guilty.
Mutuku ordered him released on Sh1 million bail or Sh5 million bond. The case will be mentioned on August 9.
Edited by A.N