DPP Orders Arrest of Keroche Breweries Proprietors Tabitha Karanja, Husband over Sh14 Billion Tax Fraud

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Keroche Breweries Limited proprietors Tabitha Karanja and her husband Joseph Karanja in connection with tax evasion.

In a statement, Haji said an audit by Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) established that the two, through Keroche Breweries, evaded taxes amounting to Sh14.4 billion.

Haji said the company failed to remit excise duty and value-added tax (VAT) on its various beer products among them Crescent Vodka, Viena Ice and Summit Lager as well as duty stamps between January 2015 and June 2019.

DPP Haji said there was sufficient to charge the couple and Keroche Breweries Limited with 10 counts of tax fraud.

“Having independently reviewed the file and applying the provisions of the National Prosecution Policy, I am satisfied that there is sufficient evidence and that it is in the public interest to charge the suspects listed herein with 10 counts of Tax Fraud, contrary to section 97 (a) and (c) of the Tax Procedures Act, 2015,” Haji said in a statement.