KRA targets Moi daughter land over Sh5m tax dues

Times Tower. FILE PHOTO | NMG

What you need to know:

  • Ms Kositany claimed that she is the registered proprietor of the land worth about Sh300 million and has never had any tax arrears.
  • Ms Kositany said she acquired sole ownership of the disputed land after she lost her husband, Stephen Cheruiyot Kositany, on January 24, 1994.
  • In the case documents, she claimed that she had no outstanding tax liability “at the material time of the charge” to warrant KRA to direct the Chief Registrar of lands to charge the property as security for the money due or owed to the taxman.

Former president Daniel arap Moi’s first born daughter is embroiled in a legal battle with the taxman over unpaid Sh5 million taxes on a prime city property.

Ms Jennifer Jemutai Kositany has sued the Kenya Revenue Authority, the Chief Registrar of Lands and the Attorney General for imposing a Sh5 million charge on her 4.42-acre land near Integrity Centre in Nairobi.

Through lawyer George Kithi, Ms Kositany claimed that she is the registered proprietor of the land worth about Sh300 million and has never had any tax arrears.

“It has come to her attention that the Chief Registrar of Lands registered a charge on June 15, 1998 for a sum of five million shillings under the direction of KRA through the office of Commissioner of Income Tax,” said Mr Kithi.

Ms Kositany said she acquired sole ownership of the disputed land after she lost her husband, Stephen Cheruiyot Kositany, on January 24, 1994.

The couple had acquired the property through a conveyance made on September 7, 1981 between William Hugh Hindley and Olga Oliver Hindley on one part and the Kositanys on the other.

But the property still remains in the name of the deceased while she retains its ownership as per the doctrine of survivorship.

In the case documents, she claimed that she had no outstanding tax liability “at the material time of the charge” to warrant KRA to direct the Chief Registrar of lands to charge the property as security for the money due or owed to the taxman.

She argued that she had never been issued with a notice directing her to make any payments of tax or “an intent to subject her property as security for unpaid monies”.

She said efforts to make the taxman cancel the charge against the disputed property have been in vain.

She wrote to KRA on January 15 seeking cancellation of the alleged debt but no response has been forthcoming, she says.

According to Ms Kositany, she was never even accorded a fair administrative action before the decision was taken.

She also says she was not given an opportunity to defend her property or raise an objection, terming the move biased and unfair.

“The action of KRA and the Chief Lands Registrar in registering the burden against the property has occasioned  and continues to occasion  Ms Kositany damages as she is barred from  exercising her right to the property as guaranteed in the constitution,” said Mr Kithi.

Ms Kositany therefore wants the court to quash the move of imposing the accumulated tax charge on her undeveloped land and that the case be certified urgent and heard on a priority basis.

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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.