Drama was witnessed at Weston Hotel after police raided the premises with the aim of arresting Jubilee financier Mary Wambui Mungai and her daughter Purity Njoki Mungai following a warrant of arrest order issued by the court.
K24 Digital has established that tens of police officers stormed the hotel whose ownership is associated with Deputy President William Ruto on Wednesday evening.
The duo, who are Directors of Purma Holdings Limited, a company that earned lucrative top government tenders are accused of failing to pay tax amounting to Ksh2.2 billion.
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In 2014, KRA moved to court over Purma's failure to pay tax and the matter has been dragging in court since then as both Wambui and Njuki failed to appear whenever they were summoned.
An officer from KRA who spoke in confidence told K24 Digital that at the time the raid was starting, DP Ruto was at the hotel.
“The two have been living in the hotel and they must have been informed of our plans because when officers arrived there, they had already fled,” said the officer who spoke in confidence as they are not authorized to address the media.
In a statement, KRA said that the two managed to escape from their hotel rooms a few minutes before the police and KRA officers arrived to nab them.
However, the officers managed to find personal belongings of the duo which included cash, bank cards and car keys.
“Upon searching the hotel premises, KRA officers and the police found personal belongings of the two including cash, bank cards and car keys; a clear indication that the two were residing at the hotel,” the statement signed by the Commissioner- Investigations and Enforcement said.
Currently, police officers have cordoned off the hotel located along the busy Lang’ata Highway as they continue searching for the duo.
The duo failed to appear in the Anti-corruption Court before Chief Magistrate Felix Mutinda Kombo to answer to eight counts which include; knowingly and unlawfully omitting taxes due in the income tax returns which were submitted to the Commissioner for Domestic Taxes for the period between 2014 and 2016.
"The court was informed that the two failed to honour summons to appear before KRA on December 3, 2021, to inform them of the charges against them and instead sent their accountant,” the statement read in part.
However, their lawyer Sylvanus Osoro told the court that Mungai was sick and that she was admitted in hospital.
Asked to produce documents to back up his argument, Osoro who is also the South Mugirango Member of Parliament (MP) failed to do so.
This saw the court agree with the prosecution team that the accused was illegally buying time instead of facing the charges.
The case will be mentioned in the next five days.
