State prosecutor Vincent Monda confirmed to the Milimani Court chief magistrate Francis Andayi that the DPP had furnished the suspects with copies of statements as earlier directed.
Mr Kariuki and his co-accused have denied charges of the Sh41bn tax evasion, being in possession of ethanol woth Sh7.9 million illegally as well as thousands of fake excise duty receipts.
The have denied nine counts relating to tax evasion amounting to Sh17 billion.
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji has asked the court to give him up to January 14, 2020 to provide city tycoon Humphrey Kariuki and eight others hard copies of the 7,000 witness statements and exhibits related to their Sh41 billion tax evasion case.
Defence lawyers in the case have also sought to be allowed to peruse and examine all the original documents to confirm that “they are actually copies from the original documents”, setting up the trial of Mr Kariuki and alcohol manufacturer Africa Spirits Limited and Wow Beverages for delay.
State prosecutor Vincent Monda confirmed to the Milimani Court chief magistrate Francis Andayi that the DPP had furnished the suspects with copies of statements as earlier directed.
“I received letters from defence counsel Cecil Miller and Kioko Kilukumi that they want to be furnished with hard copies of the 7,000 statements and exhibits in the Sh41bn tax evasion case,” Mr Monda stated.
He added that besides Mr Miller and Mr Kilukumi, other defence counsel led by Ben Nzakyo had also demanded hard copies.
Hard copies
“The State now requires photocopies running into 56,000 copies,” Mr Monda stated.
As a result Mr Monda asked the court to indulge the DPP up to January 14 to accomplish that exercise.
“It is true we wrote to the DPP demanding hard copies of the witness statements and documents to be relied upon in this case,” Mr Kilukumi told Mr Andayi.
Mr Miller urged that the case to be mentioned on December 5 for the DPP to confirm whether he had supplied the hard copies ahead of the pre-trial scheduled for January 14, 2020.
Allowing the request by the prosecution, Mr Andayi directed all defence counsel be allowed access to the offices of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to verify the original documents of the copies they will be supplied to avoid unnecessary delays and ease the smooth flow of testimony when trial commences.
Mr Kariuki and his co-accused have denied charges of the Sh41bn tax evasion, being in possession of ethanol woth Sh7.9 million illegally as well as thousands of fake excise duty receipts.
The have denied nine counts relating to tax evasion amounting to Sh17 billion.
Mr Kariuki, Wow Beverages directors Stuart Gerald Herd and Robert Thinji Muriithi, and Africa Spirits Directors Peter Njenga Kuria and Geoffrey Kaaria Kinoti Mbombua are facing a total of 21 counts of tax evasion.
The magistrate heard that a similar case in Thika Law Courts will be transferred to Nairobi for trial alongside the three cases filed against the accused.
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