Billionaire Humphrey Kariuki and four others directors of Africa Spirits Limited and WOW Beverages Limited on Thursday were grilled at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for more than nine hours over tax evasion and forgery claims.
The other directors include Peter Njenga Kuria, Mary Wambui, Robert Thinji and Dennis Mureithi.
They were grilled by a team drawn from the Kenya Revenue Authority, Bank Fraud Investigations Unit and Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
“They will not spend the night in custody because we’re not yet done with investigations,” a senior detective privy to the ongoing investigations said.
He said they want to build a strong case.
“Once done, the file shall be forwarded to the ODPP for perusal and approval,” the officer said.
Another source said they are focusing on recovering what could have been “stolen” and charging those suspected to be guilty.
This follows last week’s raid in the Africa Spirits Limited, the Thika based liquor firm, where detectives uncovered 21 million fake Kenya Revenue Authority excise stamps, tens of thousands litres of ethanol suspected to be smuggled into the country from Tanzania among other things.
The DCI Flying Squad raided the firm in a weeklong exercise that culminated in an operation led by DCI George Kinoti who said it would be extended to other firms believed to be engaging in unscrupulous businesses to rake in billions.
According to detectives, the country has been losing about Sh3 billion worth of tax.
The DCI wanted to question the directors to get information which may assist in investigations.