21 Feb 2022: A 10 year long court battle between Coca Cola's local franchises in Kenya and the Kenya Revenue Authority has finally ended with the former coming out victorious.

They won the Sh5.6 billion ($44 million) court case when Kenya's Supreme Court judges refused to hear the case, noting that re-opening it after an earlier dismissal by an appellate court would be unconscionable, insensitive and cruel.

“We note that the dispute commenced in the High Court in October 2012, ten years ago, then moved to the Court of Appeal, over nine years ago in July 2013... To start the case all over again, for no fault of the respondents, is not only unconscionable but also insensitive and cruel,” the judges said in a joint statement.

It all started back in 2012 when  the Kenya Revenue Authority filed a lawsuit against the Coca Cola bottling companies including their franchises((Mount Kenya Bottlers, Rift Valley Bottlers, Nairobi Bottlers and Kisii Bottlers) , demanding that they must pay accrued taxes on  the costs of washing and sanitizing recycled bottles as well as penalties and interests for a period covering between 2006 and 2009.

Sadly for the revenue agency, the suit was dismissed by an appeals court in 2013 for lacking merit, thus overturning an earlier ruling by a high court which had allowed the Kenyan agency to impose the taxes in the first place.