Ukwala Supermarket petitions court to review Sh1b security order

NAIROBI: Ukwala Supermarket has asked the High Court to review its earlier orders requiring it to deposit hefty security to cover for tax row with the Kenyan Revenue Authority (KRA) before it could sell its outlets to a Botswana company, Choppies Ltd.

Ukwala Supermarket argued the orders by the court requiring it to issue a Sh1 billion security to sell its outlets will cause damages to its operations.
The supermarket chain moved to the High Court to defer the orders issued by Justice George Odunga, arguing that it would suffer if the orders obtained by Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) were implemented. According to Ukwala’s director, Rohit Maaghanlal Shah, the taxman allegedly did not disclose that it had the same case before a tribunal when it obtained the orders. Mr Shah stated in his court documents that the dispute between the supermarket chain and KRA was in respect of Sh500 million dispute and not the Sh946 million as claimed by the taxman.