Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika's husband Samuel Mburu Kamau was on Saturday arrested alongside 17 others over a Ksh64 Million fraud case.
Mburu was arrested alongside his brother Hillary George Kamau for evading taxes weeks after President Uhuru Kenyatta warned corporations engaging in legal activities that their days were numbered.
DPP Noordin Haji approved charges against them over tax evasion allegation by Gendipe and Rupai Enterprises which cost the state nearly Ksh64 Million in revenue.
Among those facing the fresh charges include former Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) chief executive Charles Ongwae and former director of Quality Assurance Eric Kiptoo.
In a statement, Haji noted that the two organizations and their clearing agent Landmark Freight Services Limited (run by the brothers) with the help of custom and KEBS officers concealed imported goods with the aim of evading taxes and reduced the amount of penalty payable for goods arriving without certification of conformity from the country or origin from the required 15 percent of the total custom value to 0.5 percent.
Investigations established that Gendipe Enterprises and Rupai trading Limited imported goods from Dubai and declared to be imported machinery whose payable taxes are between 0 percent to 10 percent.
Subsequently, in the course of investigations, re-verification of containers established that the two contained coking oil and assorted durable goods respectively, whose import ranges from 25 percent to 35 percent.
“Further it was established that Gendipe Enterprises paid a penalty of Sh148,816 instead of the required Sh4.4 million while Rupai Trading Ltd paid a Kshs148,300 penalty instead of Sh4.4 million. In general, the country lost a total of Sh64, 944,112 that would have been received as revenue,” the DPP conveyed.
The 18 will be charged with six offenses including connivance to comit an offense under section 9(1) (b) of the East African Community Customs Management Act No 1 of 2005 and the concealment of Import goods.
During the Jamhuri day celebrations at Nyayo Stadium, Uhuru warned businesses that they would face action from the government for illegally avoiding to pay their taxes.
"Kenya will also push hard to lead in urging the multilateral financial and political system to take more action to stop corporations from illegally avoiding taxes, disregarding environmental responsibility and acting with cruelty and contempt against citizens of countries in which they are invested.
"We have started the process of improving import and export logistics through port and rail, we have reigned in the once rampant businesses of illicit trade in counterfeits, we have commenced the inter-governmental process necessary to streamline taxes and levies at the county level. On your part, you must now show greater commitment to upholding acceptable business codes of ethics, shun corruption, and pay your taxes as you should," he asserted.
