The Anti-Corruption Court has issued an arrest warrant against businesswoman Mary Wambui Mungai, who is the director of Purma Holdings, over contempt of court in Kshs2.2 billion tax evasion case.
Mungai alongside her daughter Purity Njoki Mungai failed to honour court summons to take plea, pushing Chief magistrate Felix Mutinda Kombo to issue the warrant to have them appear in court.
The warrant was issued against them after the court was notified of the duo's failure to show up before Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on Friday, December 3 to inform them of the charges against them, opting to send their accountant.
According to their lawyer Syvanus Osoro, Mungai could not make it to the court as she had been admitted in hospital, but the court reported that no records of hospitalization were provided by the party.
The ally of Deputy President William Ruto had acquired a military tender to provide uniforms for the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and was a big financier of the Jubilee campaign in the 2017 elections.
The Mungais were first charged in July this year with eight counts of fraud, for deliberately omitting taxes due in the income tax returns submitted to the Commissioner for Domestic Taxes for the period between 2014 to 2016, to which a warrant was issued to have them arrested after failing to appear before KRA to hear the charges against them.
Purity Njoki and her sister Everlyn Nyambura in a move to block the warrant, disowned their mother, stating they were registered as directors of the company without their consent, with the claim that they were not of age to take up responsibility in the company.
"The second and third respondents (Nyambura and Njoki) had been included as minority shareholders and directors at the incorporation of the company by the first applicant (Wambui), their mother, without their consent, having been minors and in school," their attorney, Wakubengo Waningilo argued.
The firm had summoned them over their involvement in the case as it believed that they had significant information that could help solve the case and wanted to use them as key witnesses.
The duo urged KRA to pursue their mother who should face the consequences for her own mistakes as they were neither shareholders, customers, employees nor agents of the firm.
"That the 3rd Applicant [Nyambura] and I ceased being directors of Purma Holdings when on realising that the two of us had other interest for our respective careers in life, our mother removed us,” Njoki revealing to the court that they resigned.
The case will be mentioned on December, 14 2021 or the soonest the accused will be arrested.
