A committee of the National Assembly has summoned Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) commissioner-general Humphrey Wattanga over claims the country lost Sh62 billion in taxes in a palm oil import deal.
The Finance and National Planning Committee wants the KRA boss to shed light on claims that Louis Dreyfus Company Asia PTA Limited and Louis Dreyfus Company Kenya Limited did not declare accurate taxes due for payment for the consignment of palm oil imported over four years.
“From the foregoing and the importance of revenue mobilisation in the country, the committee resolved to invite you for a meeting to shed light on the matter,” said senior National Assembly deputy clerk Jeremiah Ndombi in a letter dated August 29, 2024, to the KRA boss, on behalf of National Assembly clerk Samuel Njoroge.
The summons follows documents tabled to the committee, which show that tax was allegedly mis-declared on the products imported by the firms for use in Kenya and other East African countries through the Mombasa port.
The palm oil cargo imported from Malaysia and Indonesia—the world’s two leading exporters of palm oil products that account for 85 percent of the production—is in six types, namely RBD palm olein, RBD palm stearin, crude palm kernel oil, crude palm olein, crude palm oil and palm fatty acid distillate.
Palm oil stearin is a by-product of palm oil refining and is used in soap manufacture and cooking fats.
RBD palm olein is refined palm oil, and crude palm kernel oil is a by-product that is used in soap manufacturing.
Crude palm olein is palm oil that has been semi-processed, which means that it has only been fractioned to separate the liquid portion from the solid portion of oil and attracts import duty at the rate of 10 percent.
To get to the bottom of the matter, the committee wants Mr Wattanga to provide details on the total cargo volume of palm oil imported by LDC Asia PTA through the Mombasa port from February 23, 2023, to June 26, 2024.
The committee said details should include the volumes of RBD palm stearin, crude palm kernel oil, crude palm olein, crude palm oil, and crude palm fatty acid distillate.
The committee also wants Mr Wattanga to provide details regarding the total taxes and fees paid by LDC Asia PTA in the importation of palm oil cargo from February 23, 2023, and June 26, 2024.
Copies of all import declaration documents which are not limited to port health reports, Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) reports, bills of ladings and cargo manifests for all the 120 cargo of palm oil imported by the company from February 23, 2023, and June 26, 2024, are also required.
Also required by the committee is a list of consignees of all the palm oil cargo volumes imported by the company during the period.
The committee also wants details on the volume of palm oil cargo shipped in by RBD Palm Stearin, Crude Palm Kernel Oil, Crude Palm Olein, Crude Palm Oil, and Crude Palm Fatty Acid Distillate imported by LDC- Kenya Limited, Acee Limited, Mazeras Oil Limited, and Vipingo Industries Limited through the port of Mombasa from February 23, 2023, and June 26, 2024.
Further, Mr Wattanga is required to provide details of the taxes and fees paid by LDC- Kenya Limited, Acee Limited, Mazeras Oil Limited, and Vipingo Industries Limited in the importation of the palm oil products between February 23, 2023, and June 26, 2024.
The copies of all import declaration documents for palm oil cargo by LDC- Kenya Limited, Acee Limited, Mazeras Oil Limited, and Vipingo Industries Limited through the port of Mombasa from February 23, 2023, and June 26, 2024, are required.
“The purpose of this letter is to invite you to the meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 19,2024 at 10 am at a venue to be communicated in due course” the letter stated.
