- Businesswoman facing Sh2.2 billion tax evasion charge, to be arraigned on Thursday for illegal gun possession and other charges.
- Wambui was said to be hiding in a hotel following a court order to appear.
Image: COURTESY
Billionaire Mary Wambui was on Wednesday arrested for allegedly being in possession of an unregistered firearm.
Wambui was picked up from her Runda home and questioned by detectives before being taken to the Muthaiga police station where she was expected to spend the night.
The businesswoman is to be arraigned on Thursday. She was visited by lawyers Nelson Havi and Kipchumba Murkomen.
Already facing a Sh2.2 billion tax evasion charge, Wambui is expected to be charged with illegal gun possession and other charges, police said.
The decision to arrest was made when she surrendered her pistol on December 15 last year, a day after the Firearms Licensing Board said she held the common pistol illegally.
The licence had expired on April 17, 2020.
She drove to Runda police station in Nairobi and handed over the CZ75 Compact and asked police to forward it to the board.
She told police she wanted to renew her expired firearms license but when she visited the board offices in Industrial Area she found it closed because of Covid-19 restrictions.
She then travelled out of the country and was unable to renew the licence.
Wambui left the weapon at the station with what she said were an unknown number of bullets, saying she feared moving with it to the board offices.
It is an offence under Section 11(4) of the Firearms Act CAP 114 of Kenya to fail to comply with a demand to surrender a weapon.
The officers said the KRA and DCI officers visited Weston Hotel Room B302 on December 8. She was said to be hiding there following a court directive.
Officers found a black handbag left behind with personal identification documents and cash. They also found a gun.
“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 processing the firearm,” the letter read.
The CZ75 pistol is a semiautomatic weapon, a common handgun.
Wambui is accused of evading tax totaling Sh2.2 billion. On December 6, she was released on Sh25 million cash bail.
Her co-accused, Purity Njoki Mungai, was also released on the same terms.
The two presented themselves before Anti-Corruption Magistrate Felix Kombo after escaping a police dragnet at the Weston Hotel.
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 is listed as the first accused in the tax case.
The magistrate directed that they deposit their travel documents, including a temporary permit for the Republic of Zambia belonging to Wambui.
The accused are facing eight counts related to failure to pay taxes amounting to Sh2.2 billion that should have been paid through their company, Purma.
The charges involve state tenders. Officials said they are investigating claims the accused were admitted in hospital, which they said made it impossible for them to honour the summonses.
If found guilty of the tax offence, the penalty is a fine not exceeding Sh10 million or double the tax evaded, whichever is higher.
Alternatively, they face a prison term not exceeding 10 years, or both.
For the offences of failing to submit a tax return and failure to pay tax, the penalty is a fine not exceeding Sh1 million and imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.
KRA had said the two women escaped from their hotel rooms a few minutes before the police and KRA officers arrived to arrest them.
(Edited by V. Graham)