Two Pakistan businessmen were on Friday arraigned before a Mombasa court and charged with evading tax worth 1.5 billion shillings.
The two, Rahim Qasim and Rameez Gulzar Ali are accused of having imported rice worth sh. 1.68 billion and sold it all but failed to declare and remit income tax from the business to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
They also faced two other counts of defaulting to pay sh. 434,930/= to KRA arising from business undertakings amounting to sh 1.4million in 2017, and Kshs 522 million from business undertakings amounting to sh. 1.7 billion in 2018.
They were charged alongside their firm Jhulay Lal Commodities limited but denied all three charges.
Prosecutors said the crimes had been committed between January 2015 and December 2018, and that cash sales from the businesses had been banked in the company’s bank accounts at Barclays, Gulf African, Equity and Diamond Trust Banks.
Their arrests followed lengthy investigations by KRA’s Investigation and Enforcement Department on the tax fraud.
Chief magistrate Edna Nyaloti released the suspects on a bond of sh. 20 Million and a Kenyan surety of the same amount each, and ordered their passports to be held by the court.
The case will be mentioned on 3rd March 2020.
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