An anti-corruption court in Nairobi has issued a warrant of arrest against Purma Holdings directors Mary Wambui Mungai and her daughter Purity Njoki Mungai for failing to take plea in a sh2.2B tax evasion case.
The court instructed the OCS of Capitol Hill Police Station in Nairobi to arrest of the two immediately to face charges.
The court heard that the two also failed to honour summons to appear before KRA on Friday last week to be informed of the charges levelled against them, instead choosing to send their accountant.
Through her advocate Sylvanus Osoro, Ms Mungai also informed the court that she was admitted to hospital on November 29 but no medical documents or disclosure of illness or hospitalisation have been presented in court to support the assertion.
They are facing eight counts of knowingly and unlawfully omitting taxes due in the income tax returns submitted to the Commissioner for Domestic Taxes for the period between 2014 and 2016.
The court agreed with the prosecution that the two are buying time instead of confronting the charges levelled against them.
The case will be mentioned on December 14 or when the two are arrested.
Mega state tenders
The accrued taxes are due from mega state tenders awarded to the company by the military for supply of cereals, uniforms and boots as well as KN95 surgical face masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) kits to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) and other state departments.
Ms Mungai is well known amongst Jubilee Party members for bankrolling election campaigns in 2017.
In July, she and her two daughters, Everlyn Nyambura and Purity Njoki, were summoned by KRA to shed light on the alleged unpaid taxes but they failed to honour the summons.
Ms Mungai’s daughters then obtained court orders blocking their arrest for failing to honour the summons.
At the time, the court heard that their mother had travelled to Zambia on business.
In a bid to free themselves from the court case, the siblings further told the court that they had resigned from the company on August 28, 2019 after transferring all their shares to their mother.
They added that they held 150 ordinary shares each and were incorporated as directors of the company when they were minors.
“The third applicant (Nyambura) and I ceased being directors of Purma Holdings on realising that the two of us had other interests for our respective careers in life; our mother removed us,” Ms Njoki claimed in her court papers.
A letter sent to Ms Mungai stated that KRA has reason to believe that she is culpable, connected to or has information that will assist the authority in investigations into the alleged offences.
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