Tabitha now denies owning Keroche Breweries in court

Days after a man moved to court seeking to stop Keroche CEO Tabitha Karanja from participating in the August 9 General Election, she has come out to deny ownership of the company.

Mrs Karanja in a reply to a suit filed against her candidature in a Nakuru Court said she is just an employee and not the owner of the company. In many instances, Mrs Karanja has been referred and known as the founder of the company, this, however, is not the case as she revealed. In his petition, Daniel Mahiri, who took part in the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party primaries but lost to Karanja, want the court to find her unsuitable to hold public office due to the company's tax avoidance cases.

Mr Mahiri has hired lawyer Jinaro Kimutai to represent him in the case that if it succeeds may impact heavily on Tabitha's candidature for the senate seat.

“I am employed by Keroche Breweries Limited as a Director and the Chief Executive Officer but I am not the owner of the company as alleged by the petitioner,” stated Tabitha in her replying affidavit through Kabugu and Company Advocates.

Mahiri claims since 2006 Keroche has been accused in numerous cases of crimes related to tax evasion. Mrs Tabitha emerged the winner in the primaries with 98, 439 votes beating Mahiri who got 12,240 votes. Mahiri in the petition has premised his suit on alleged tax evasion and economic crimes by Keroche Breweries. He says the only times Keroche has agreed to settle the tax arrears are after prosecution.

He has listed the United Democratic Alliance, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, Kenya Revenue Authority and the Office of the Ombudsman as respondents alongside Mrs Karanja. Mahiri in his petition said Mrs Karanja owns 95 per cent shareholding, with five per cent distributed among her children. The husband he said, though holding zero per cent of the shares is a co-director in the company.

He says Mrs Karanja is not only a suspect, but a fully admitted tax evader with no pending appeal. Mr Mahiri reiterates that tax evasion is a crime and acceptance of crime doesn’t take away the fact that the crime was committed, on the contrary, it proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the crime was committed and negates any legal basis for the person to be deemed innocent of the crime. He wants the court to issue a permanent injunction barring Mrs Karanja from contesting the August 9, General Election either as a member of UDA or as an independent candidate.

Mrs Karanja in her reply filed in court says Mahiri is a sore loser and is not motivated by ethics or ideals as he claims in his petition. She says his motivation is selfish and aimed at eliminating competition for personal gains. She said Keroche Breweries is a duly registered and licensed local manufacturer of good repute enjoying an enviable market share, and good relations with its customers, government and non-governmental organisations in the manufacturing sector.

The company she said has been recognised in many forms as a leading business in the country and she is proudly associated. Contrary to the allegations in the petition she said the company is domiciled at the large taxpayers’ office of KRA and has been recognised in several instances for commendable performance. She, however, admits that the company has pending tax disputes with KRA as is the case with most businesses and other taxpayers in the country.

To her, it is the right of every taxpayer to contest tax imposition where he deems it unfair or illegal and such cannot be elevated into an integrity issue. Justice Professor Joel Ngugi yesterday directed parties to file and serve their responses and come back for highlighting of submissions on June 30.