A Nairobi court has issued a warrant of arrest against Keroche Breweries CEO Tabitha Karanja for failing to appear in Court during the hearing of her Sh14.5 billion tax returns case.
Milimani Law Courts principal magistrate Esther Kimilu issued the warrant after the court was told that the Nakuru Senator was not present for her case.
The prosecution requested the court to issue a warrant and schedule a hearing of the case on Thursday morning.
Senator Karanja is facing charges of tax evasion amounting to 14.5 billion.
According to the charge sheet, the accused and the company on dates between February 20, 2015, and January 20, 2016, unlawfully made incorrect statements in their excise duty returns by reducing their duty by Sh1.8 billion.
She allegedly also made incorrect statements for the January to December 2017 returns, which affected payable excise duty by Sh3.6 billion.
Further, the prosecution believes that between February 20 and July 20, the accused unlawfully omitted from their VAT returns for January to June affecting their VAT liability by Sh196 million.
Tabitha was also accused of under-declaring production volumes by 820,601 litres and misapplication of excise duty rates on Vienna Ice by using Sh27.06 instead of Sh175, thereby reducing her excise duty liability by Sh1, 855, 403, 900 payable to the commissioner as required by the Excise Duty Act.
