BY SAM ALFAN.
A member of the Ngirita family has been charged before a Nairobi court with failure to pay taxes amounting to Sh20 million.
A crying Phyllis Njeri Ngirita pleaded with the Milimani Chief magistrate Martha Mutuku to release her on lenient bond terms after denying several charges.
Njeri while shedding tears informed the court that her German child was sent home from school since she could not afford to pay the fees after all her accounts were frozen over the NYS scam.
She told the court that her child is urging her to change her name from Ngirita since the family name has been tainted.
Ngirita told the court that she does understand the charges and amounts put by KRA since she is not well educated as she only went to school up to standard seven.
“I started this business in 2002 and have never encountered such issues. KRA should do their calculations again,” said Njeri.
The mother says that her child who is Germany, is affected by the incidents and even wants her to change child’s name from Ngirita, which is associated with NYS scam.
“It is not my fault that my child is a Ngirita and I can’t even afford to pay school fees since they have frozen my accounts and seized the motor vehicle. Now I have nothing yet I was able to educate the other children even up to the university,” she added.
Ngirita who trades by the name Njewanga Enterprises is accused of deliberately failing to pay corporation tax amounting to Sh6,992,681.1 for the year 2016.
Ngirita is alleged to have committed the offence on or about 31st December 2016 jointly with others not before court. The accused is further charged with failing to pay Sh 13,794,931 for the year 2017.
Njeri who is charged alongside the other Ngiritas in the NYS phase II case is further facing two charges of failing to submit tax returns for the years 2016 and 2017 by due dates.
The prosecution did not object her release on bail.
However they informed the court that KRA is still investigating four other companies involved in the NYS scandal.
The accused had made an application in June to allow her to withdraw Sh 600,000 to pay the fees as she had fallen into school fees arrears of over Sh 3.4 million.
The school allegedly charges Sh 726,600 per term for year’s three to eight.
The magistrate however granted her a cash bail of Sh 1 million or a bond of Sh 1 million.
The accused, her mother Lucy Wambui Ngirita and brother Jeremiah Gichini Ngirita allegedly received Sh 361 million from NYS between November 2015 and April 2018.
