This archive report was first published on 6 May 2020.
Rolling Cargo Company Limited Under Investigation for Sh5 Billion Tax Evasion ¶
Investigations have been launched into Rolling Cargo Company Limited, a freight cargo company, over alleged tax evasion and smuggling of contraband goods worth at least Sh5 billion into Kenya.
The probe follows the discovery of undervalued and undeclared goods, including mobile phones, that were imported into the country via Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
According to police records, the company's director, Mohamed Hassan Mohamed, reported the loss of 750 cartons of assorted mobile phones valued at Sh120 million while in transit on April 9th. However, an investigation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed that the goods had been undervalued to evade taxes.
DCI investigators and officials from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) customs department are now pursuing the possibility of mis-declaration of the consignment or conspiracy to smuggle taxable products.
Forensic experts have been deployed to comb through the company's records and contracts with various traders, and the investigation has uncovered a larger tax evasion conduit through smuggling and importing valuable and undeclared goods in the form of electronics.
Rolling Cargo Company Limited is suspected to be part of a cartel that evades paying taxes when importing electronic cargo from the Middle East, such as Dubai and China, via JKIA.
‘This Rolling Cargo Company Limited has been stealing from Kenyans by undervaluing the goods they bring in the country, in addition to failing to declare their manifest,’ a senior detective involved in the investigation said.
