Purma Holding directors in Sh2.2billion tax evasion case evades arrest at Weston Hotel
A team of detectives attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigative (DCI) domiciled at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) are hunting for Purma Holding directors now regarded as fugitives.
This is after Mary Wambui Mungai and Purity Njoki, in the centre of a Sh2.2 billion tax evasion case, yesterday night escaped arrest from Weston Hotel in Nairobi owned by Deputy President William Ruto.
According to a statement released by the KRA, Wambui alongside Njoki escaped from their hotel rooms a few minutes before the police and KRA officers arrived to arrest them.
“Upon searching the hotel premises, KRA officers and the police found personal belongings of the two including cash, bank cards and car keys; a clear indication that the two were residing at the hotel,” KRA said in the statement.
Upon searching the hotel premises, KRA officers and the police found personal belongings of the two including cash, bank cards and car keys, a clear indication that the two were residing at the hotel.
It is claimed they used a connecting door from their room on third floor to escape to the next room making it difficult for the officers to pursue them further.
Police cordoned off the hotel as a search on the two is intensified in vain.
Ruto and dignitaries from Garissa were at the same facility for a fundraiser as the two managed to escape police dragnet.
Following the two women’s daring escape, a blame game has ensued between KRA officers and police officers from the Rapid Deployment Unit over who might have tipped off the two women.
A warrant of arrest was issued on the two on Monday after the two directors failed to appear in Anti-Corruption Court to answer 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 2014-2016.
The warrant was also 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.
“Whereas Mary Wambui Mungai has this day (6/12/2021) failed to attend court for plea taking. Therefore you are hereby commanded forthwith to apprehend Mary Wambui Mungai and bring her before this court to be further dealt with according to the Law,” ordered magistrate Felix Mutinda Kombo.
The taxman is pursuing Mungai over alleged unpaid taxes for the billions of shillings earned from government tenders for supplying boots, uniforms and cereals to the military, among other State departments.
The taxman says Mungai and her two daughters earned billions of shillings between 2014 and 2019 through their company Purma Holdings Ltd.
The KRA says it has been conducting investigations on tax obligations by the company for the past two years.
Howevre, 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 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.
The case will be mentioned on December 14 or as soon as they are arrested.
