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The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) now says it wants to settle out of court the Sh2.5 billion tax evasion case against businesswoman Mary Wambui Mungai and her daughter Purity Njoki.

The Director of Public Prosecution yesterday told the court that KRA informed them they were in communication with Wambui and her daughter who were taxpayers for possible out-of-court settlement.

“On September 14 we received a letter from counsel of accused persons requesting for a review of this matter on basis of new information…Our office wrote to KRA on 29 September seeking their views in the matter, KRA informed us they had been in engagement with the accused persons for possible out of court settlement,” said prosecution counsel Judy Thuguri to court yesterday.

Wambui, her daughter and their company Purma Holdings were charged last year with evading taxes amounting to Sh2.2 billion for the period of 2014 to 2019.

Thuguri told Chief Magistrate Felix Kombo that they needed more time to seek directions from the DPP regarding the matter.

Seeking DPP directions

According to the prosecution, since the response from KRA, they were yet to seek directions from DPP on how to proceed with the matter.

“On our part we had not had time to seek directions from DPP on how to proceed with the matter considering this new development,” argued Thuguri.

Lawyer Nelson Havi representing Wambui, her daughter and the company did not oppose the application for more time, saying they were ready to come back to court on December 5.

Havi requested the court to produce their passports as Wambui needed to travel while her daughter needed to renew her passport.

Chief Magistrate Kombo gave the DPP more time to review the matter and directed it to be mentioned on December 5.

The Magistrate further directed passports to be temporarily released to the accused persons.

In January 26, the court had allowed Wambui to travel to Turkey to inspect furniture she had acquired in Istanbul and released her passport on condition that she provides a temporary Kenyan surety of Sh 15 million who will be discharged upon her return.

In her application she had claimed that she was needed in Turkey for pre-inspection and other approval of furniture prototypes in satisfaction of the terms of a contract she had made with Sagist Group, a hotel furniture factory in Istanbul, Turkey.

Pre-inspection exercise

She claimed the pre-inspection and approval exercise in Turkey was at the heart of the contract between her company, Glee Hotel Limited and Sagist Group in Turkey.

The two plus their company are accused of omitting the company income tax returns amounting to Sh995,972,441 an amount which should have been included in the income tax returns submitted to the commissioner for the year of income 2018.

In the other two counts, Wambui, her daughter plus the company are accused of failing to pay income tax amounting to Sh1.6 billion  between April 30,2015 and April 30, 2020 and Sh561,958,220 between February 20,2014 and January 20, 2020.

They had been released on a Sh50 million bond and a surety of Sh25 million.