Keroche’s woes are far from over as Bosses appear in court as tax row deepens

The taxman’s noose hangs above Keroche like Damocles’ sword with the brewer’s top leadership set to appear in court on Monday.

This has been revealed by the Keroche Breweries owner Nakuru Senator Tabitha Karanja. In a detailed statement posted on her Twitter handle, the lawmaker claimed that the company’s officials including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the chairman have been summoned to court over alleged tax fraud.

“We have received a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions through our lawyer that the chairman and CEO of Keroche Breweries on February 6, for the mention of a pending case over tax evasion. This is very sad given that the alleged tax fraud is not true.” Read part of her statement.

The embattled lawmaker cited her company’s newest brand, The Vienna Ice Ready to drink vodka which is made by diluting the 40% vodka with water to yield a less potent drink of 15% alcohol content. She further disclosed that the row with the taxman arises from the excise duty on the water being used to dilute the drink.

“Now the alleged tax arises from KRA computations subjecting the 101 million liters of our water used to dilute the 60 million liters of Vodka at a rate of 120 shillings per liter. This amounts to 12.1 billion and the resultant 1.9 billion VAT. This amounts to a total of 14 billion alleged tax fraud.” Said the Nakuru senator in her statement.

The firm which has had a steady rise in the alcoholic beverage sector has been forced to close down about six times last year. Last year Ms Karanja announced a plan to lay off 400 workers after the row led to the closure of the factory for months, this decision was later reversed when the brewery reached an agreement with KRA and their operations were revived