Keroche CEO Tabitha rubbishes tax evasion claims, blames competitors

Keroche Breweries CEO Tabitha Karanja.

Keroche CEO Tabitha Karanja has rubbished allegations that she owes KRA Sh14 billion in unremitted tax as alleged by DPP Noordin Haji.

An hour after the DPP issued an order to arrest her and company Chairman Joseph Karanja, the CEO termed the current issue as new war by her competitors.

This came as DCI and KRA officers camped outside the Naivasha based company to arrest the couple following the order.

Speaking on phone, Tabitha said that she was a law-abiding citizen who was ready to present herself to DCI officers.

"Am shocked by the new allegations leveled against me, my husband and Keroche Breweries and this is pure malice," she said.

She questioned the timing of the arrest orders, just two weeks after she launched the KB Lager noting that the move was meant to intimidate her.

"This is a vendetta war launched by my competitors and am ready to face the taxman and the DPP to prove my innocence," she said.

Karanja, however, admitted that she had some dispute with the Kenya Revenue Authority over rates that the company was supposed to pay for their Vienna Ice drink.

"We have engaged KRA over the rates we are supposed to pay and the issue of the Sh14b unremitted tax as claimed by the DPP has never been raised with us," she stated.