A Nairobi court has given the DPP a last adjournment in the Sh20million tax evasion case against National Youth Service (NYS) graft suspect Phylis Ngirita.
When the case came up on Monday for hearing before Milimani senior principal magistrate Bernard Ochoi, Ngirita through her lawyer told the court that she has been going to KRA for negotiations but the KRA official in charge has not been present.
The KRA officer, however, apologised to the court stating that he is the one handling the matter and he had been away for a while attending to family matters and also sick.
"Your honour I apologise for not being present as I was indisposed. I have not reported to work since and I sincerely apologise", he told court.
The magistrate gave the last mention date saying the matter is old having been brought to court in 2019.
The case will be mentioned on October 3 when the parties will confirm the settlement of the matter.
In November last year, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) considered settling the case out of court.
Prosecuting counsel James Gachoka told Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Ochoi that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had received a letter from the KRA indicating that the two parties are negotiating.
“The accused person was invited by KRA for purposes of compounding the taxes. We urge the court to grant an adjournment awaiting further directions,” Gachoka said.
The case was coming for further hearing and the prosecutor stated that only two prosecution witnesses are remaining.
Ngirita did not oppose the adjournment by the prosecution.
Ngirita, who is charged in the second NYS corruption scandal, is accused of not paying taxes amounting to Ksh20 million between 2016 and 2017 arising from earnings received from the parastatal.
She was arraigned in court in 2019 with several counts of evading tax where she allegedly failed to submit the Ksh7 million and Ksh13 million taxes in 2016 through her company trading as Njewanga Enterprises.
Ngirita is also facing other graft charges together with her family members at the Anti-Corruption Court over siphoning millions of shillings at NYS without supplying any goods.
