![The Office of the DPP says it is not planning to arrest Tabitha Karanja and her husband, Joseph Karanja, over suspected tax evasion allegations. [PHOTO | FILE]](https://i0.wp.com/www.k24tv.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/KARANJA-1.jpg?resize=730%2C414&ssl=1)
Keroche Breweries Limited directors Tabitha Karanja and her husband, Joseph Karanja, have petitioned the High Court seeking anticipatory bail pending prosecution over Sh14 billion tax evasion charges.
In an application under a certificate of urgency, Ms Karanja and her husband are seeking to be admitted on bail following their arrest on Thursday.
"The court be pleased to release the applicants on their execution of bond for their appearance upon institution of any criminal proceedings against the applicants in respect of the said allegations,” reads the court papers.
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Through their lawyer, Senator Irungu Kang'ata, the couple said that they have been subjected to untold mental and psychological anguish and torture hounded by a press statement released by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) on August 21, directing that they be charged for alleged tax fraud of Sh14,451,826,375.
"That the decision by DPP is irrational, mala fides [bad faith] and unfair on the account of being abrupt and made without seeking statement from them to give their side of the story," they added.
Further, they claim that the State will subject them to inhumane and degrading treatment by arresting and hauling them to court for an offence they know nothing about and for which they have continuously co-operated with the prosecution.
They claimed that they have been informed by unnamed sources that there is a deliberate scheme to keep them in custody for long.
The directors also said that the allegations targeted natural persons on a matter relating to a corporate body that has a distinct personality, that is Keroche Breweries.
They also term DPP's move as discriminatory and aimed at embarrassing them because the company has many directors.
The couple claimed that the tax dispute between Keroche Breweries and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is already pending before the tax tribunal.
The cases between Keroche and KRA include appeals no. 214, 38, 97, 137, 138, and 139 of 2017, which were mentioned on May 8, 2019, where parties were urged to file their submissions.
The notice for the date of hearing the submissions, the couple said, has not yet been given.
They said that if granted bail they are ready and willing to avail themselves for any intended criminal proceedings as and when directed.
Tabitha and her husband are apprehensive that officers acting under DPP's instructions will take them to court on trumped up charges aimed at harassing, humiliating and disparaging them in utter violation of their rights under Articles 28 and 29 of the Constitution.
The file has since been forwarded to Mombasa where judges are holding their annual colloquium for further directions.
