Times Towers, Kenya Revenue Authority headquarters. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
A joint probe by KRA, Equity Bank revealed that transactions worth Sh123.58 million were initiated in the online clearance portal, Simba 2005, without corresponding dealings in the bank’s system to confirm actual payment.
The audit showed that the traders used fake bank slips to guarantee passage of their cargo even though no money was deposited into the Equity Bank account.
Two Equity Bank staff and some Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officers face criminal charges after a tax evasion syndicate in which traders at the Namanga border post were aided to import goods without paying duty, denying the tax man more than Sh120 million in revenue was unearthed.
A joint probe by KRA and Equity Bank revealed that a total of 2,926 transactions worth Sh123.58 million and involving 916 taxpayers were initiated in the online clearance portal, Simba 2005 without corresponding dealings in the bank’s system to confirm actual payment.
“We also conducted computer forensic analysis of the computers at Namanga branch, from which we established that during the period in question only two staff members were accessing KRA IP address,” Gerald Munyiri, head of security at Equity Bank said in an executive brief seen by the Business Daily.
The audit showed that the traders used fake bank slips to guarantee passage of their cargo even though no money was deposited into the Equity Bank account.
“In subsequent meeting with KRA, police and cybercrime team we agreed that they fast track the investigation, get the beneficiaries, recover the money and prosecute the criminals,” Mr Munyiri said.
He added: “The taxpayers have not met their tax obligations for the goods they cleared and hence the KRA has obligation to demand the same from them. The agents used fake bank slips to clear goods from the KRA purporting to have paid cash at the bank”
Sources at Equity said the lender’s two staff suspects have since been handed over to the police for further investigation and subsequent prosecution.
The fraud was unearthed on December 2 after KRA wrote to Equity Bank questioning why some four transactions had been registered in the Simba system but without corresponding actual payments.
The KRA further raised concern about general cases of irregular transactions in its different accounts held at Equity. The taxman singled out a Registrar of motor vehicles account and Income Tax collection account.
The KRA is currently working to replace the Simba system following past concern that it was easily manipulated by unscrupulous users.
It remains under intense pressure to seal revenue leaks amid massive shortfalls in collections. The taxman missed its half -year tax targets by a massive Sh47.6 billion.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
