KRA seizes cargo, suspends four customs officers for suspected fraud
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and Kenya Police Service officers inspect seven cargo containers that were intercepted at the Mombasa port on May 18, 2016. The KRA also suspended four customs officers for alleged involvement in a tax-evasion racket. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
The containers had been released in the system before the vessel shipping them docked at the port.
KRA customs and border control commissioner Julius Musyoki said the seven containers had already been intercepted for further verification at the KPA yard.
- KRA is still trying to trace two other containers that were illegally cleared.
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has seized seven containers alleged to have been cleared fraudulently and suspended four customs officers involved in the suspected tax-evasion racket.
The containers had been released in the system before the vessel shipping them docked at the port, KRA customs and border control commissioner Julius Musyoki said.
“The four officers attached to the Customs and Border Control Department have been implicated in a scheme to unprocedurally release nine imported cargo containers before verification of contents and on a lower customs tax assessment,” he said Wednesday evening.
Mr Musyoki disclosed that seven of the nine containers had already been intercepted for further verification at the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) yard while the remaining two that had already left the port were being traced.
“It is no longer business as usual at all our ports of entry. Any KRA officials suspected of abetting tax evasion will continue to face the full wrath of the law alongside their accomplices, who include unscrupulous traders importing their cargo through the port of Mombasa,” Mr Musyoki warned.
Mr Musyoki added that all intercepted containers had been profiled for risk based on suspect description and valuation of the goods.
“By releasing the nine misdeclared containers without a physical verification, the four officers are in breach of the KRA code of conduct and have been suspended pending further investigations,” he added.
Cargo release procedures specify that goods should be discharged and stacked by KPA at the port or at an authorized inland container depot pending verification and release by the KRA, Kenya Bureau of Standards and KPA.
Last week, the KRA intercepted luxury vehicles alleged to have been cleared fraudulently in a tax-evasion syndicate.
