KAM chairperson Flora Mutahi said counterfeit products evade taxation, denying the country billions of shillings in revenue.
Counterfeit goods worth Sh1.7 billion were seized last year alone, with the agency destroying products worth more than Sh700 million.
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has urged the government to impose stiffer penalties on counterfeiting offences to keep fake products off the market.
KAM chairperson Flora Mutahi said counterfeit products evade taxation, denying the country billions of shillings in revenue.
“This explains the recent upsurge of fictitious invoicing which has been flagged by the Kenya Revenue Authority,” she said Tuesday in Nairobi.
“A special court to fast-track the rulings associated with these crimes should be established, and an immediate review towards stiffer sentences and penalties be kick-started.”
Recent statistics shows that Kenya loses over Sh30 billion in revenue annually as a result of tax evasion, counterfeiting and unlicensed products.
Sh1.7b goods seized
Counterfeit goods worth Sh1.7 billion were seized last year alone, with the agency destroying products worth more than Sh700 million.
On May 30, the Anti-Counterfeit Agency with the help of the police arrested three Chinese traders in Nairobi exhibiting fake cables from the East African cables at the Oil and Gas International Trade Exhibition.
The products included flat twin and earth cables, single core insulated cables, flat TPS cables and flexible PVC insulated sheath cables.
Others were house electrical wire and cables, single core cables, multicore cables and speaker cables.
The cables were branded to look like they are from the East African Cables which has two manufacturing facilities in Nairobi, one in Tanzania and another in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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