A compliance officer from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has been charged with receiving a bribe to alter tax documents.
According to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the official, who is stationed in Kisumu, was caught red-handed while receiving Ksh250,000 from a woman who had already paid him Ksh500,000 to fix the documents.
The woman reportedly gave the official money to facilitate the reconciliation of a local secondary school’s tax audit report, according to the commission.
Initially, according to the commission, the officer allegedly demanded Ksh1 million to help resolve the irregularities. The woman, however, agreed to pay Ksh500,000 as a down payment, with the balance to be paid upon completion of the process.
"The commission received a report from the complainant indicating that the suspect had summoned them to his office to discuss the filing of nil returns for the school," EACC said.
"On December 31, 2021, he allegedly demanded Ksh1 million to help resolve purported filing irregularities and received a down payment of Ksh500,000, with the balance to be paid upon completion of the process," it added.
The charges against the official, who was arraigned at the Kisumu Law Court on Thursday, November 13, were approved by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP).
The officials' act to receive the bribe was contrary to Section 6 (1) as read with Section 18 (1) and (2) of the Bribery Act No. 47 of 2016, according to the document from the ODPP.
During his arraignment in court, the official denied the charges and was released on a bond of Ksh500,000 with a surety of a similar amount.
"The operation is part of the ongoing crackdown on bribery at public service delivery points to improve access to quality services for all citizens," the commission stated.
The arraignment of the officer comes three days after ODPP charged a former Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Limited (NCWSC) employee accused of forging academic certificates, which she allegedly used to unlawfully obtain public funds.
The former employee used forged KCSE certificates to secure employment at the water company as an ICT assistant and acquire public funds amounting to Ksh8.3 million from the company, according to EACC.
"Upon completion of the investigations, the Commission forwarded the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who reviewed the evidence and approved the charges against the suspect," EACC said in a statement on Monday, November 10.
