Billionaire entrepreneur Hamphrey Kariuki on Friday won the first round of his tax evasion case against the state, a move that now opens a fierce legal battle.
The state accuses the billionaire of Sh41 billion tax evasion, an amount he has disputed through his lawyer Kioko Kilukumi. He was arraigned last month.
Kiambu Principal Magistrate Stella Atambo ordered the opening of nine bank accounts associated with Kariuki's forms, arguing that the orders were unjustifiable.
According to her, Director of Public Prosecutions team did not follow the right process while obtaining the orders, a move that largely informed her ruling.
“The orders that were consequently extracted by the investigating officers included orders of preservation of accounts, an order that was never granted by this court even though the court signed the extracted order which contained the subject preservation orders,” she said.
“The order for preservation can thus be said to have been improperly obtained. It is not sincere for the prosecution to submit that this court has no jurisdiction to correct own mistakes. The prosecution cannot be allowed to ride on orders it never sought and now allege that the court’s hands are tied.”
Further, Atambo said that the orders were not served to Mr Kariuki as required by the law. The DPP has 14 days to appeal the ruling.
“I appreciate extensive submissions by both the counsel on the offences of tax evasion and others cited to persuade me in this case, but all those are of no relevance to the fact that a party wishes to ride on orders it never sought and that were never issued,’’ she added.
A pleased Mr Kariuki took on his Twitter account to update followers over the latest development, which gives him an upper hand as he plots a major fight back.
"I wish to take this opportunity to share with you an update on the current situation. Please find below an update on today’s developments in court," he said.