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Hashi Energy Ltd., an integrated fuel trader founded by Kenyan businessman Ahmed Hashi, has suffered a setback in its long-running $55.7 million tax dispute with the Kenya Revenue Authority after the High Court rejected a late bid to introduce new evidence in the case.
The ruling leaves the company facing a tax demand of Ksh7.18 billion ($55.7 million) and adds to the pressure on the petroleum dealer, which is already under liquidation. Hashi Energy had asked the court to admit additional records as part of its appeal against an earlier decision by the Tax Appeals Tribunal, but the judge said the request came too late and failed to meet the threshold required in appellate proceedings.
Court ruling deepens Hashi Energy challenges
Justice Ado Moses dismissed the application, noting that it was filed just two days before judgment was due. He said Hashi Energy had not shown why the documents could not have been presented earlier, especially since most of the records were within the company’s control. The court also found that the move appeared aimed at addressing gaps identified by the tribunal rather than raising a legal issue suitable for appeal.
The documents the company sought to introduce included fuel supply contracts with the United Nations, sales ledgers, stock movement schedules, bank statements and loan records tied to operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hashi Energy argued that the material had been difficult to obtain because it involved third parties and was held outside Kenya. The court rejected that explanation, saying it did not justify the delay.
“Litigation must come to an end,” Justice Moses said, adding that even potentially important evidence cannot be admitted without a clear and credible reason for late production. He also faulted the company for failing to attach the documents to its application, leaving the court unable to assess their relevance or reliability. Allowing new factual material at that stage, the judge said, would have turned the High Court into a trial court, contrary to the law governing tax appeals, which are limited to points of law.
Inside Hashi Energy’s rise and strain
The decision lands at a difficult moment for Hashi Energy, once a fast-growing regional fuel supplier. The company was founded in 1991 as Hashi Empex by Ahmed Hashi and his wife, Fatuma, starting as a kerosene distributor for Chevron Kenya. Using jerry cans, the firm supplied fuel to markets in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo before expanding in the mid-1990s through depot acquisitions in western Kenya.
Hashi rebranded as Hashi Energy in 2008, widening its business to include bulk fuel imports, distribution and retail service stations. Its footprint eventually stretched across East and Central Africa and into markets such as Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, South Sudan, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates.
In 2017, the company sold its petrol stations to Tanzania’s Lake Oil. Two years later, it announced a $140 million supply deal with a Dubai-based conglomerate to provide food and fuel to military personnel and aid groups operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite those contracts, financial strain persisted.
Hashi Energy liquidator sells Kenyan assets
On March 10, 2023, Hashi Energy called a meeting of creditors to consider winding up the company voluntarily. The resolution was approved, and KVSK Sastry was appointed as liquidator. Since then, the firm has been selling assets to meet mounting obligations, including about Ksh5 billion ($31.3 million) owed to Ecobank.
Assets put up for sale in 2024 include 31 prime movers—mostly SITRAK trucks—located in Mombasa, Eldoret and Nairobi, as well as a gas cylinder revalidation plant on Nanyuki Road in Nairobi. Property disposals include long-lease plots in Changamwe, Mombasa, housing storage, maintenance and office facilities, LPG infrastructure, and several industrial plots in Kisumu.
