BY SAM ALFAN.
A Chinese national who was facing 14 counts of tax evasion has been acquitted after a magistrate’s court dismissed the criminal charges against him.
Hongyou Huang, alias Yellow who is the vice president of the China National Aero-Technology International Engineering Corporation was spared by the court on grounds the charges against were defective in law.
Nairobi Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo who was appointed as high court judge last month agreed with defence lawyer Ian Maina’s assertion that it was unlawful for Huang to have paid KRA tax arrears amounting to 66million shillings.
He noted that the decision by the prosecution to charge him with the offenses was an abuse of the Court process.
“It is the Court’s view that the said tax was payable to China and not KRA.I therefore find the charges have no legal basis,”Ogembo ruled.
Mr Hongyou lawyers Ian Maina and Kevin McCourt challenged the charges preferred against their client terming them as defective.
He was accused that jointly with others not before court, of failing to pay Sh66 million in taxes on diverse dates between 2010 and 2014.
Huang is charged – alongside his companies’ Avic International Real Estate, ACEG Ltd, Catic and Avic International Property Nairobi Ltd – for failing to pay the taxes.
However, he remains with one count of failing to appear before the Kenya Revenue Authority commission at Times Towers, Nairobi, on May 4 this year.
The Court is expected to give directions on whether Huang will face trial on the same count on January 31st 2017.
Hongyou Huang, who is the vice President of China National Aero-Technology International Engineering Corporation, appeared before Milimani chief magistrate Daniel Ogembo on September 8 and denied the charges.
The prosecutor said that between May and June 2014, the accused jointly with others not before court, failed to pay taxes amounting to more than Sh66 million being the company manager.
His other three companies, the prosecutor ads were liable to pay income tax but failed to file tax returns with the Kenya Revenue Authority between 2013 and 2014.
The accused also faced another count of failing to appear before KRA on May 4, this year despite having been duly notified to do so.
The prosecution asked the court to enhance Hongyou’s Sh50, 000 bond terms, saying the charges he is facing are serious and carries a fine of double the amount of tax evaded or imprisonment of 10 years.
He was also described as a flight risk.
Through lawyer Ian Maina, the Chinese dismissed claims that he is a flight risk, saying his abode is known to police, adding that he has lived in Kenya for more than 22 years. The magistrate, however, granted the prosecution application and reviewed Hongyou’s bond terms to Sh5 million with a Kenyan surety of a similar amount or a Sh1 million cash bail.
Hongyou was arrested in June over tax evasion claims after his company was embroiled in controversy over the cancelled Green Field terminal project and before the launch of the new terminal 1A and at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
The Chinese firm won the contract to design and build the facility at the airport but the contract was cancelled in March.
