KRA has today arraigned the Director of Patiala Distillers Kenya Limited Mr Francis Kiambi Matanka Kiriiro at the Milimani Law court to answer to charges of selling alcoholic beverages affixed with counterfeit excise stamps to distributors.

Francis Kiambi Matanka Kiriiro appeared before Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi where he faced a count of selling Excisable Goods affixed with counterfeit excise stamps contrary to section 40 of the Excise Duty Act 2015 and Regulations 30(1) (g) as read with Regulations 30(2) of the Excise Duty (Excisable Goods Management System) Regulations, 2017. He denied the charge and was released on a bond of KShs.1 million and one surety or Cash bail of Kshs.500,000.

The second accused person Mary Waigwe Muthoni did not appear in court for plea and she will be required to appear on 31st August 2021 for plea taking.

While conducting compliance checks on different shops within Nairobi, Enforcement officers found 178 bottles of Blue Ice Vodka affixed with counterfeit excise stamps at a shop by the name Nice Link Dealers Limited that is located along Mwiki Kasarani Road. The product is manufactured by Patiala Distillers Limited and investigations established that the manufacturer had supplied the distributor with the alcoholic drinks that had been affixed with counterfeit stamps for sale.

In the recent past, some manufacturers have resorted to affixing counterfeit Excise stamps on excisable goods such as bottled drinking water, alcoholic beverages and cigarettes with a view of evading payment of excise duty.

Affixing counterfeit excise stamps on excisable goods is a deliberate fraud scheme to defraud the Authority of Excise Duty. These forms of tax evasion deny the government revenue to facilitate its service delivery. It is for this reason that KRA has embarked on a full-scale investigations and prosecutions of tax evasion or gross negligence involving all Acts of Parliament administered by KRA in order to promote voluntary tax compliance.

If convicted, the accused persons are liable to a fine not exceeding five million shillings or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both.

Commissioner, Investigation and Enforcement Department