Sugar supplier battle KRA over Sh 2.5 billion sugar in Supreme Court

Sacks of sugar

The battle over the Sh2.5 billion sugar impounded in Mombasa has landed in the Supreme Court.

The Court of Appeal had allowed Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to hold the 40,000 tonnes of sugar imported from Brazil until the supplier, Darasa Investment Ltd, pays tax.

The firm has moved to the Supreme Court, arguing that the second court in the land misapprehended the facts of the case and came up with a wrong finding.

Darasa’s lawyer Fred Ngatia told the court that it was unfair for the state to impose high taxes on citizens. There are also fears that water will slowly eat away the sugar as it has been slowly seeping in the ship.

The firm won the first round of the battle at the High Court where it argued that the sugar had a tax waiver. High Court judge Eric Ogolla had on February 22 ruled that KRA discriminated Darasa as it had allowed 13 other firms to offload sugar they had imported.