Businesswoman Mary Wambui surrendered her firearm to police a day after the Firearms Licensing Board said she held the weapon illegally.
She drove to Runda police station in Nairobi Wednesday morning and handed over the CZ75 Compact she has been having and asked authorities there to forward it to the board.
The board had given Wambui until Wednesday December 15 to surrender her pistol.
She told police she wanted to renew her expired firearm license but when she visited the board offices in Industrial Area she found it closed over Covid-19 pandemic.
She then traveled out of the country and could not renew the license as required.
Wambui left the weapon at the station with unknown number of bullets saying she feared moving with it to the board offices.
Police on Tuesday told Wambui it is an offense under section 11(4) of the firearms act CAP 114 of the Kenya to fail to comply with a demand to surrender the weapon.
The officers added Kenya Revenue Authority and Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers visited Weston Hotel on December 8 room B302 where Wambui is said to have been hiding following a directive by the court and found an abandoned black handbag with an assortment of personal identification documents and cash money.
“In the process of preparing an inventory we came across a firearm licensing certificate number… issued to you by the Firearms Licensing Board. The said license expired on 17/04/2020.”
“By implication, you are illegally processing the firearm,” the letter said in part.
The CZ75 pistol is a semi automatic weapon is a most common handgun.
Wambui who is accused of evading tax totalling Sh2.2 billion was Thursday December 9 released on a Sh25 million cash bail.
Her co-accused, Purity Njoki Mungai was also released with the same amount.
On Thursday, the two presented themselves before Anti-Corruption Magistrate Felix Kombo after escaping a police dragnet at Weston Hotel, Nairobi on Wednesday night.
An arrest warrant had been issued against the two for failing to honour summons by the Kenya Revenue Authority.
The two are directors of Purma holdings limited which has been listed as the first accused.
The magistrate directed that they deposit all their travelling documents including a temporary permit for the Republic of Zambia belonging to Wambui.
The accused persons are facing eight counts related to failure to pay taxes amounting to Sh2.5 billion that should have been paid through their company, Purma.
Officials said they are investigating claims the accused were admitted in hospital which made them not to honor the summonses.
If found guilty for the offence of omission, the penalty is a fine not exceeding Sh10 million or double the tax evaded whichever is higher or imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or both.
For the offences of submit a tax return and failure to pay tax, the penalty is a fine not exceeding Sh1 million and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.
KRA had said they escaped from their hotel rooms a few minutes before the police and KRA officers arrived to arrest them.
“Upon searching the hotel premises, KRA officers and the police found personal belongings of the two including cash, bank cards and car keys, a clear indication that the two were residing at the hotel,” KRA said.