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Two disown mother in Sh2b tax evasion of military attire supply

Times Towers Building in Nairobi which hosts Kenya Revenue Offices.[Wilberforce Okwiri,Standard]

Two women have accused their mother of illegally adding them as directors of a firm that is being investigated over alleged Sh2 billion tax evasion.

In court documents filed before the High Court, they have accused their mother of illegally adding them as directors of Purma Holdings Limited, and argue that the court should allow her to come back to the country from Zambia to answer the investigator’s queries about the company by herself.

The petitioners, Evelyn Nyambura Mungai and Purity Njoki Mungai, told Justice Cecilia Githua that their mother Mary Wambui Mungai added them as directors of the firm while they were minors and without their consent.

Purma is said to be a supplier of Kenya military uniforms and camouflage materials.

Court records read that the Kenya Revenue Authority has been conducting investigations on Purma for the last two years and on June 17, 2021, it wrote to the three requiring them to appear before its investigators to assist them with information about the firm before June 28, failure to which they would be arrested and charged.

While arguing that they have nothing to do with their mother’s firm, Nyambura and Njoki told the court that their mother was in Zambia and they have nothing to do with Purma.

“The second and third respondents (Nyambura and Njoki) had been put as minority shareholders and directors at the incorporation of the company by the first applicant (Wambui), their mother, without their consen,t having been minors and in school,” their lawyer Walubengo Waningilo argued.

Nyambura and Njoki asked the court to give them anticipatory bail as they could be arrested, adding that KRA should wait for their mother to return and carry her own burden. They say they are neither Purma shareholders, employees, agents, nor customers of Purma.

According to the company registration form filed in court, the firm’s nominal share capital is Sh1 million and the share value is 10,000 per share. It was incorporated on February 13, 1996.

The document indicates that Wambui is the sole director and secretary, holding 1,000 shares.

Wambui then transferred to Nyambura and Njoki 150 shares each worth Sh30,000. A transfer of shares or stock document, which is also produced in court, shows that both girls and their mother signed acknowledging the same.

To prove that they parted ways with their mother, Nyambura and Njoki attached a letter written on August 28, 2019, by Njoki to her mother saying she had called it quits for personal reasons.

“Please accept my resignation effective today August 28, 2019. I have no claim whatsoever of any nature against the company. I have enjoyed working with you in the company but due to personal reasons, I cannot continue to carry out our position effectively at the company. I further state that I have no claims based on my shareholding in the company mentioned hereinabove,” Njoki wrote.

Yesterday, Justice Githua granted the two a Sh500,000 bail and ordered them to appear before KRA investigators on or before July 19.

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