Three people have been arrested for allegedly running a multi-million tax evasion syndicate. The trio were arrested during a raid by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
The three were caught after they reportedly diverted goods valued at Ksh100 million meant for export to a warehouse in Ruiru, Kiambu County on Friday, August 13.
KRA Chief Investigating Officer, Mutembei Nyaga, noted that the goods were scheduled for shipping to South Sudan but were diverted for sale in the local market.
The goods, mostly electronics and tyres, were diverted to the Ruiru warehouse in an attempted tax evasion.
“This is huge tax evasion syndicate involving diversion of goods into the local market. The verification of the goods is part of our investigations to establish the circumstances under which the goods that were destined for South Sudan found themselves in Ruiru," stated Nyaga.
Nyaga confirmed the arrest during an exercise conducted by the two agencies at the warehouse to verify the status of the goods. He cautioned other traders from diverting goods meant for export saying the taxman will take strict action on anyone found culpable.
This comes even as KRA mounts an aggressive tax collection exercise that saw it surpass its revenue targets for the first time in eight years.
Nyaga confirmed that the feat was achieved through the sealing tax evasion loopholes and pilferages such as the arrest of the three suspects.
In the 2020/2021 financial year, KRA surpassed its target for the first time in eight years by more than Ksh16.81 billion to post revenues of Ksh1.669 trillion.
The target for the period had been pegged at Ksh1.652 trillion in the 2021 Budget Policy Statement.
The revenue collection more than doubled in the last 10 years, from Ksh707 billion in the financial year 2011/12 to Kshs 1.669 trillion in the financial year 2020/21. This represented a growth of 136% in the last ten years.
