Mary Wambui freed after court allows DPP to withdraw her Ksh2.2B tax case

Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) Board Chair Mary Wambui Mungai on Tuesday, January 10 walked to freedom after the Anti-Corruption Court allowed the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to withdraw the Ksh2.2 billion tax evasion case against her.

The development comes barely a month after the DPP also dropped another criminal case against Wambui that involved possession of an illegal firearm and 22 rounds of ammunition.

While seeking to drop the tax case on Tuesday, January 5, the DPP informed trial magistrate Felix Kombo that he had received a letter confirming Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) together with Wambui and her daughter Purity Njoki had concluded the out-of-court negotiations that commenced in October 2022.

The prosecution urged the court to withdraw the criminal charges saying the tax arrears dispute had been settled outside court as KRA wished not to proceed with the trial.

Wambui and her daughter had been charged as directors of Purma Holdings Limited over alleged failure to pay taxes amounting to Ksh 2,231,789,125.

They face eight counts of unlawfully omitting income tax returns between the years 2014 and 2019 through their company.

KRA had been pursuing Wambui over alleged unpaid taxes for the billions of shillings earned from government tenders earned by the company for supplying boots, uniforms, and cereals to the military, among other state departments.

Wambui was 2017 among 13 billionaires who funded the Jubilee Party in the reelection campaign of retired President Uhuru Kenyatta and his then deputy William Ruto.

Mary Wambui lawyers welcome DPP’s move

Defence lawyers Nelson Havi and Adrian Kamotho did not oppose the request to have the charges withdrawn but informed the court that the case had affected Wambui and her daughter.

They, however, welcomed the DPP’s move.

“We are in agreement with the decision by the DPP to have this matter withdrawn. This is a matter that should not have reached this stage of court prosecution.

“Our clients have endured anguish and difficulties including denial of certain rights since they were arraigned in court over one year ago,” defence lawyer Kamotho said.

The move by the DPP to withdraw the charges was occasioned by an out-of-court deal between KRA and the accused persons over the alleged unpaid taxes whose negotiations started immediately after the August general elections.

On December 5, 2022, Wambui was also freed in the case involving possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition after the DPP sought to have the same dropped.

Wambui was charged with two counts of being in possession of a firearm without a valid license and 22 rounds of ammunition without a valid firearm certificate.

The prosecution alleged that the offense was committed between April 2020 and December 15, 2021.

Wambui joins the growing list of President William Ruto’s allies whose cases have been dropped by the DPP over various reasons such as insufficient evidence.

They include Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Cabinet Secretaries Mithika Linturi (Agriculture) and Aisha Jumwa (Gender and Public Service), former Kenya Powers Managing Directors Ken Tarus and Ben Chumo, and businessmen Humphrey Kariuki and Joseph Karanja (Keroche).