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She drove to Runda police station in Nairobi on Wednesday morning and handed over the CZ75 Compact and asked authorities there to forward it to the board.
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The board had given Wambui until Wednesday to surrender her pistol.
Image: COURTESY
Businesswoman Mary Wambui has surrendered her firearm to police, a day after the Firearms Licensing Board said she held the weapon illegally.
She drove to Runda police station in Nairobi on Wednesday morning and handed over the CZ75 Compact and asked authorities there to forward it to the board.
The board had given Wambui until Wednesday to surrender her pistol.
She told police she wanted to renew her expired firearm licence, but when she visited the board offices in Industrial Area, she found them closed over Covid-19 pandemic.
She said she then traveled out of the country and could not renew the licence.
Wambui left the weapon at the station with an unknown number of bullets, saying she feared moving with it to the board offices.
Police on Tuesday warned Wambui it is an offence under Section 11(4) of the Firearms Act CAP 114 to fail to comply with a demand to surrender the weapon.
The officers added Kenya Revenue Authority and Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers visited Weston Hotel on December 8, room B302, where Wambui is said to have been hiding following a directive by the court and found an abandoned black handbag with an assortment of personal identification documents and cash money.
“In the process of preparing an inventory, we came across a firearm licensing certificate number… issued to you by the Firearms Licensing Board. The said license expired on 17/04/2020.”
“By implication, you are illegally possessing the firearm,” the letter said in part.
The CZ75 pistol is a semi automatic weapon and is a common handgun.
Wambui, who is accused of evading tax totalling Sh2.2 billion, was last Thursday released on Sh25 million cash bail.
Her co-accused and daughter, Purity Njoki Mungai, was also released with the same amount.
The two had presented themselves before Anti-Corruption Magistrate Felix Kombo after escaping a police dragnet at Weston Hotel, Nairobi, last Wednesday night.
An arrest warrant had been issued against the two for failing to honour summonses by the Kenya Revenue Authority.
The two are directors of Purma Holdings Ltd which has been listed as the first accused.
The magistrate directed that they deposit all their travel documents including a temporary permit for the Republic of Zambia belonging to Wambui.
The accused persons face eight counts related to failure to pay taxes amounting to Sh2.2 billion that should have been paid through their company, Purma.
Officials said they are investigating claims the accused were admitted in hospital which made them not to honour the summonses.
If found guilty of the offence of omission, the penalty is a fine not exceeding Sh10 million or double the tax evaded, whichever is higher or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.
Edited by CM