A Kakamega High Court has ordered for continued detention of a truck which had been intercepted by customs officials offloading contraband cigarettes with a tax implication of Ksh 26.25 million.
Justice Alice Bett reversed an earlier order issued by Kakamega Chief Magistrate Julius Ng’arng’ar to release the truck which was intercepted at a residential house in Kakamega with the illicit goods on October 15, last year.
Investigations reveal that the truck had 350 cartons containing 5,000 sticks of Supermatch cigarettes marked “for export” concealed with wheat ban.
The driver of the truck, Shadrack Kogo, failed to provide documents evidencing the origin of the consignment and/or payment of duties following which the truck and the consignment were seized by KRA.
Subsequently, Kogo was charged in March with the offence of conveying uncustomed goods contrary to Section 199 (b) of the East Africa Community Customs Management Act.
He denied the charges and was granted a bond of Ksh 500,000 with an order made to have the truck detained as an exhibit. However, the truck owner, Geoffrey Cheruiyot BorBor, applied to have the truck released saying he was ready to avail it to court when needed.
KRA and the Office of the Director of Prosecution (ODPP) promptly moved to the high court seeking to set aside the order as the truck was used to facilitate commission of the offence leading to its seizure.
KRA submitted that the goods, including the truck, were liable to forfeiture under the law and that the commissioner had statutory mandate to detain them until the determination of the prosecution case.
The KRA further submitted that although the truck owner has a right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, the state was obligated to ensure preservation and proper chain of custody of such evidence. In her judgment, Justice Bett ruled that the trial court erred in releasing the truck as it was an exhibit and could only be released upon its production.
