James Momanyi and Bernice Mbugua @PeopleDailyKe
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has sought the help of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to unravel bribery claims involving cigarette maker British American Tobacco (BAT) and the tax-collecting body. Commissioner General John Njiraini yesterday said they have contacted EACC to conduct investigations and “if any staffers are found culpable, they will face the full force of the law”.
The announcement came on the day Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula, who has been linked to the alleged bribery scam, was granted an injunction restraining the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from publishing or broadcasting BAT bribery allegations against him.
The senator had sued BBC claiming to have been defamed by the broadcaster in its Panorama programme, which allegedly portrayed him as having solicited the purchase of an airline ticket to London for his wife. He said the programme claimed he was corruptly involved in a corporate scandal in which BAT bribed him while he was the Minister of Trade.
Wetang’ula claims BBC did not produce any evidence to their claim and if the plane ticket existed it would have been shown in their television programme. “There is no evidence that the ticket was purchased and used and that my wife travelled to London,” he said in a sworn affidavit. Yesterday, Njiraini said it is within KRA’s mandate and policy to obtain information from third parties as long as it is incredible and can assist in preventing tax evasion.
“We receive information about tax evasion from different sources including individuals, media, business competitors and even former employees of organisations. Receiving of information from third parties is provided for in the KRA Act. We ascertain the credibility of the information and place it within the premises of the law as we do tax assessments,” said Njiraini. He noted that it was against the policy for any of its staff to profit from such third party information, which is supposed to aid investigations on an individual evading tax.
“It doesn’t matter where the information comes from. Our only concern is when somebody or our staff member uses it for profit. That is against the law. Currently investigations are going on and those found to have been compromised will be punished,” he added.
Earlier this week, a British newspaper The Independent published allegations by former BAT employer-turned-whistleblower Paul Hopkins indicating that an ex-Permanent Secretary at the office of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga wrote to KRA asking them to drop tax demands against Mastermind Tobacco, after the tax collector threatened to freeze bank accounts of the cigarette maker for allegedly failing to pay billions of shillings in taxes.
It was also alleged that BAT bribed KRA officials to reveal confidential tax records of its competitor Mastermind, which led to BAT orchestrating a campaign to have its rival compelled to service the alleged unpaid taxes. On this allegation, Njiraini said KRA had sought the assistance of BBC, who were the first to disclose the bribery claims, to get Hopkins contacts.
“He has already responded and agreed to avail the information to an independent third party. KRA then referred him to EACC. The whistleblower is currently in touch with the anti-corruption body, which has already commenced investigations,” he added. The Commissioner General said KRA has tightened the information gathering system by setting up a web-based intelligence gathering system, which will henceforth stem out corruption and improve service delivery.
The web-based system will allow the public to report any corrupt dealings involving staff or avail credible information regarding tax evasion. “The Web System which we plan to unveil in February will assist KRA in gathering of information from individuals and organisation on corruption and tax evasion. We are investing heavily in technology to reduce human contact which is an ingredient for compromising our staff in the event an individual or company wants to evade tax”, added Njiraini.
At the same time, KRA continues to do staff audits to seal loopholes in revenue collection. “We began this process two years ago. All staff members, including the management, will be vetted and those not able to account for their wealth will face the law. We have so far spoken to 4,000 staffers on the process and no one will be victimised,” said Njiraini.
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