The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has shut down and seized more than 1,000 pieces of bottled water and a pickup truck at an illegal water manufacturing plant in Embakasi, Nairobi.

The plant which is located in a residential area within Embakasi was sealed off for manufacturing water without an excise licence contrary to section 15 of the Excise Duty Act 2015. The operations of the plant registered under Diamond Crystals Enterprises were also in contravention of Section 38 of the Excise Duty Act 2017 as read with Regulation 30 of Legal Notice 53 of 2017.

Two hundred and twenty pieces of five-litre bottled water and 792 pieces of 500 millilitre bottled water had already been loaded on to the waiting pickup truck outside the premises ready for the market when KRA officials arrived. Twenty pieces of five-litre bottled water were still within the premises. The officials were working on a tip off from members of the public.

The director of the company has been summoned by KRA for further investigations and subsequent prosecution in court for manufacturing, possessing and conveying an excisable product without an excise licence and tax evasion.

KRA remains committed in stamping out manufactures who circumvent the law with the intention of evading taxes due on products manufactured. The crackdown on illicit trade and contrabands currently ongoing throughout the country will continue unabated not only to safeguard government revenue but also to protect members of the public from illegally manufactured products posing health risks.

KRA is a member of the multiagency team constituted in May this year to steer the nationwide crackdown on illicit trade and contraband goods.

The Authority wishes to encourage members of the public to be part of this endeavour by volunteering information on suspicious production of excisable goods such as water.

Commissioner, Domestic Taxes Department