Nairobi, Aug. 4 -- Alcohol manufacturer London Distillers (K) Ltd (LDKL) has lost its bid to avoid paying Sh517 million in excise taxes after the Court of Appeal backed the Kenya Revenue Authority's (KRA) decision to reject a directive by the National Treasury to abandon 80 percent of the tax liability.

The appellate court ruled that the Treasury Cabinet Secretary had no legal authority to advise the KRA to abandon taxes already collected from consumers by a manufacturer for remittance to the government.

The three-judge bench said KRA acted lawfully by declining to implement the directive, which had been issued despite legal objections from both the tax authority and the Attorney-General.

"We agree with the trial court that he had no s...