This archive report was first published on 10 May 2020.
On May 10, 2020, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) launched an investigation into a cargo company accused of tax evasion through the importation of undervalued and undeclared goods.
According to sources from the KRA, investigators are seeking to establish if the company deliberately under-declared consignments or smuggled taxable products. Customs officials and Directorate of Criminal Investigations detectives who visited the company's facilities found a consignment of electronic goods, mainly mobile phones, that had just been imported.
The officials suspect that the goods were undervalued to evade levies due to the government, which led to suspicion of the existence of a cartel that has been fleecing taxpayers of millions of shillings.
Investigations point to a possible collusion between the company's owners and some rogue KRA officials, who allegedly facilitated false declarations, thereby denying the taxman requisite taxes such as import duty.
“We suspect they also allow in counterfeits. We are investigating, together with KRA, the claims,” said an official at DCI who asked not to be named.
Separately, a report by Rolling Cargo Ltd claimed that it had lost mobile phones valued at Sh120 million which were on transit.
On April 9, Mohamed Hassan Mohamed reported to the police that their 750 cartons of Infinix phones were stolen while on transit from the African Cargo at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to its warehouse in Eastleigh, Nairobi. Three suspects are facing charges over the incident.
