Former Kenya Bureau of Standards MD Charles Ongwae had his day in Court today after he pleaded not giulty to a charge of defrauding the Kenyan government of Sh64 million in taxes.
Ongwae appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Kennedy Cheruiyot a day after 11 other suspects appeared in court over similar charges.
According to court documents Ongwae, Eric Chesire, Samuel Mburu, Hillary Kamau, Ibrahim Twahir and three companies, Gendpie Enterprises, Rupai Trading Limited and Landmark Freight Services Limited conspired to defraud the government of Sh4.3 million.
They allegedly imposed a penalty of 0.5 per cent instead of 15 per cent of the total customs value on imported goods without a certificate of conformity.
Ongwae faced another separate charge of abuse of office. He denied unlawfully authorising the waiver of penalty for imported goods without a certificate of conformity from the country of origin from 15 per cent of the total customs value to 0.5 per cent.
He was released on a cash bail of Sh200,000 and a bond of Sh500,000.
The magistrate also directed that he appears before the Directorate of Criminal Investigations on Monday for processing.
The case will be mentioned on January 14.
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