Freedom looms for billionaire businesswoman Mary Wambui Mungai, an ally of President William Ruto , after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) received a court’s nod to delay her trial over Sh2.2 billion tax evasion charges.
The move will allow for a review of the case and out-of-court negotiations between the trader and the taxman.
Should the negotiations be fruitful, the criminal charges levelled against the former financier of retired President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party’s 2017 campaigns will be terminated by the prosecution.
The development comes a day after prosecutors also got court authority to review a Sh7.5 billion case against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. Both trials have often been blamed on the 2022 succession politics and alleged use of state institutions to fight allies of President Ruto.
When Ms Wambui’s case came up for mention at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi yesterday, the prosecution informed the court that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the businessperson intended to settle the dispute out of court.
Prosecutor Judy Thongori said she had received a letter from Ms Wambui, who was charged in December 2021 alongside her daughter Purity Njoki, seeking a review of the DPP’s decision to charge them in court.
The two directors of Purma Holdings Limited are suspected to have evaded tax to the tune of Sh2.2 billion by failing to declare the correct taxes due between 2014 and 2019.
“Based on the request by the accused, our office did write to KRA on September 29 seeking their views. On October 6, we received a response from KRA indicating they were in engagements with the accused persons, who are taxpayers, in relation to review of the tax payable after the accused raised objections to the amount due,” the prosecutor said while appearing before trial magistrate Felix Kombo.
“There is an out-of-court negotiation that is being considered. Upon receiving the response from KRA, we have not had time to seek directions from the DPP on how to proceed with the matter considering this new development,” Ms Thongori said.
Ms Wambui, her daughter Njoki and their trading company Purma Holdings 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 2019. They denied the accusations.
Mr Kombo allowed the prosecutor’s request to be given more time to review the charges and to allow negotiations before giving his directions on whether to drop the charges or not.
Ms Wambui and her daughter, through their lawyers Nelson Havi and Adrian Kamotho, did not oppose the request.
At the same time the court allowed the lawyers’ request for interim release of travel documents belonging to the two accused. The court heard that Ms Wambui intends to make an overseas business trip while her daughter intends to renew her passport.
The tax dispute stemmed from tenders won by the Nairobi-based businessperson at the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) and another for the supply of boots, uniforms and cereals to the military, among other state departments.
The taxman started pursuing Ms Wambui last year over alleged unpaid taxes. She was also listed among persons who supplied KN95 masks and surgical masks to Kemsa in a tender worth Sh30.5 million.
KRA said in court documents that Ms Wambui dealt in supplies to government departments in Kenya and the region but had failed to declare the correct tax payable for the specified period.
According to KRA, Ms Wambui, through her business, received payments totalling Sh9.88 billion in the said period, which was not reflected in the iTax ledger.
The taxman said Purma Holdings made Sh7.65 billion but only declared Sh1.9 billion, denying the taxman Sh1.93 billion.
Court documents further indicated that the company made Sh7.66 billion but declared only Sh281 million, denying the KRA Sh597 million.
KRA targeted accounts in Equity, Stanbic, Credit Bank, Family and KCB banks. Six of the accounts are registered under Purma Holdings while the rest are in Ms Wambui’s name.
But Ms Wambui said KRA wrote to her on December 6, 2021 claiming Sh44.6 million in unpaid taxes, which she said she was in the process of settling. She said she had already paid Sh10 million.
The businesswoman said she had filed audited accounts for the entire period as well as tax returns and obtained tax compliance certificates for the period between 2014 and March 2021.
She said the taxman wrote to her banks on December 7, 2021, asking them not to allow the transfer or withdrawal of any money from her accounts, in a scheme aimed at ensuring that she remained in custody after denying tax evasion charges.
Ms Wambui further claims KRA wrote to the four banks blocking withdrawal or transfer of money from other companies linked to her businesses, including Enterprise Suppliers Ltd, Evertec General Trading Ltd, Njest Suppliers Ltd and Daydot Ltd, all in a bid to ensure they do not raise the Sh50 million cash bail.
The amount was paid from her company, Glee Hotel Ltd, though KRA had also written to Equity to stop any withdrawal or transfer.
