Clearing agent charged with Sh97 million tax evasion

A clearing and forwarding agent accused of evading taxes amounting to more than Sh97 million was arraigned in a Nairobi court Monday.
The accused, Dickson Ogola, was arraigned before Milimani Principal Magistrate Kennedy Cheruiyot faced with 12 counts of tax evasion. On the first count he was charged with fraudulent evasion of duty payment amounting to Sh60, 346,144 contrary to Section 203 (e) of the East African Community Customs Management Act of 2004.
According to the charge sheet presented before court, Ogola with another accused jointly manipulated invoices for 66 customs entries between January 2012 and August 2018 leading to the loss of revenue.
Ogola is further facing another 11 counts of making 63 false customs declarations contrary to Section 203 (b) of the East African Community Customs Management Act 2004. The eleven offences led to loss of tax revenue amounting to Sh36, 870, 838.
Ogola, who Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has been tracking for the past five months, was arrested Saturday in Nairobi. Prior to his arrest, KRA officials had arrested his employee who is the co-accused in this case.
Investigations by KRA had revealed that the accused had been contracted by the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church of Kenya to clear an assortment of items on behalf of the church.
The investigations further indicated that the accused, who owns a non-licensed clearing and forwarding company, has been using various Clearing and Forwarding firms to clear the goods on behalf of the church.
However, an emotional Ogola denied all the charges and was released on Sh1 million bond with a surety of a similar amount or a Sh500, 000 cash bail.
The case will be mentioned on 21st January with hearing on 30th January 2019.
By Joseph Ng’ang’a