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Keroche Breweries CEO, Tabitha Karanja addressing a press briefing /COURTESY TWITTER

Kenya

Keroche moves to file contempt proceedings against KRA over factory closure

NAIROBI, Kenya July 21- Keroche Breweries has moved to file contempt proceedings against the Kenya Revenue Authority(KRA) for failing to reopen their brewery after a court order directing the same.

In a series of tweets, Keroche CEO Tabitha Karanja said she had directed her lawyers to issue a notice of their intention to cite all the responsible persons within KRA for contempt of court for deliberately failing, refusing, and ignoring the court order.

On July 14, the High Court issued an order directing KRA to reopen the brewer then after, on July 18, KRA went to Court to seek an order to stop the reopening.

According to Karanja, KRA’s orders seeking to stop the reopening were not granted and she is appealing to the taxman to reopen the brewery.

Karanja said the brewer has every intention to pay the taxes that they have admitted, provided that they are allowed to carry on business in order to generate the profits that will allow them to fully repay the taxes they owe.

“In our very honest view, business closure as a tax enforcement measure is a self-defeating action that does not allow KRA to recover the taxes owing, the current taxes, and the future taxes that would result from business continuity,” Karanja tweeted.

Karanja continued to claim that there are other factors motivating the unrelenting forces behind KRA to shut down her business.

“It’s not just about the taxes. This is about vested interests by our competitors in the industry through the aid of powerful individuals weaponizing government institutions,” she said.

She noted that the closure of her business has resulted in losses which include, laying-off of 400 direct employees, 87,500 litres of beer, filtered and ready for packaging at the factory and 1,250,000 litres of beer that is ready for filtration and packaging worth Sh350million.

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Other losses include loss of raw materials including malted barley, sorghum, accrued interest from loans advanced to them by banks and loss of market share and distribution network.

Karanja urged KRA to act expeditiously and reopen the brewery allowing them to carry on business.

KRA shut Keroche Breweries on May 15 after the Naivasha based brewer failed to honour a repayment plan that would have seen it settle Sh957 million shillings in 24 months.

In its defence, Keroche said it was unable to honour the payment schedule given the tough operating environment and the short-run to the payment of the first installment covering the tax arrears.

The High court then struck a  new repayment schedule which required the brewer to pay an initial Sh8 million as the first installment on the tax arrears and thereafter pay a similar amount on the 30th day of each month until the next hearing date.

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