A Member of the County Assembly in Tana River County who had been summoned by Mombasa Law Court over KShs. 8,697,748 tax fraud was arraigned today.
Kinakomba Ward MCA Babusa Hamid Salim, who is the sole proprietor/director of Darweish Constructors Limited, is accused of six counts of tax fraud and failure to pay income and value added taxes despite deriving income from supplying goods worth KShs 21 million to the County Government of Tana River through his company.
Among the offences is failure to pay corporation tax amounting to KShs. 491,379 in 2020, KShs. 3,631,113 in 2021, and KShs. 1,565,976 in 2022 contrary to section 95 read with section 104 (1) of the Tax Procedures Act.
Other offences include fraud in relation to tax by omission from VAT returns of KShs. 237,500 in 2020, KShs. 1,936,593 in 2021 and KShs. 835,187 in 2022 contrary to Sections 97 (a) and 104 (3) of the Tax Procedures Act.
The accused appeared on 24th April, 2024 before Principal Magistrate Hon. David Odhiambo. He denied the charges and was released on a bond of KShs. 2 million. The case is set for pre-trial on 10th June, 2024.
This is the second tax fraud case involving suppliers of Tana River County Government to be flagged out by the Kenya Revenue Authority. Earlier, the directors of Bendegwa Limited linked to evasion of KShs 3,769,984 have also been summoned to appear in court for similar charges.
Bendegwa Limited supplied goods worth KShs 8,339,400 to County Government of Tana River on divers dates between 1st January, 2017 and 31st August 2023. The company’s two directors Imani Sango Mponoa and Vilimine Nababe Moses are yet to honour summonses issued by Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate Rita Orora.
