DCI sleuths probe cargo firm in suspected Sh5b tax evasion
Hillary Mageka @hillarymageka
A freight cargo company is on the spot over its activities that are alleged to have denied the government Sh5 billion in taxes.
The company is said to have undervalued and undeclared goods it brought into the country.
The matter was unraveled last month after cargo cleared by Rolling Cargo Company Limited was allegedly lost on its way from African Cargo facility at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to the former firm’s warehouse in Eastleigh.
According to Police Occurrence Book dated April 9, Mohamed Hassan Mohamed, the director of Rolling Cargo limited reported that he had lost 750 cartons of assorted mobile phones valued at Sh120 million while on transit.
Mohammed said a vehicle went missing before reaching the destination within Eastleigh section 111.
The case was reported on April 10, and on search the vehicle was recovered within Mara Road and seven cartons of assorted mobile phones recovered.
“Offence: stealing c/section 268 as read with 275 of the penal code ref my CR 134/72/2020, my OB 75/10/4/2020, it was reported by one Mohamed Hassan Mohamed c/o 0722722441 and the director of Rolling Cargo limited, Nairobi, that on 9/4/2020 he hired m/v KBZ 628X ISUZU driven by one Daniel Kavuti... aged 40 years,” a report by DCI Buruburu, Kamukunji Sub-county, reads in part.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) suspect the firm is part of a cartel that evades paying taxes when importing electronic cargo from the Middle East countries such as Dubai and China via JKIA.
Smuggle products
The People Daily has reliably learned that the DCI investigators and officials from customs department at KRA are now pursuing the possibility of misdeclaration of the consignment or conspiracy to smuggle taxable products.
On Monday, the sleuths while on a fact -finding mission to the African Cargo Facility over the entry of contraband electronic goods stumbled on newly arrived consignment of electronic goods mainly mobile phones.
According to police sources, the goods had been undervalued to evade levies due to the government.
Forensic experts from the Economic Crimes Section of the DCI have already been deployed to comb through a mountain of company records and contracts with various traders drawn from Nairobi’s CBD, Eastleigh, and Eldoret.
“This Rolling Cargo Company Limited has been stealing from Kenyans by undervaluing the goods they bring in the country, in addition to failing to declare their manifest,” a senior detective involved in the investigation said.
According to CR 12, Omer Abdi Gule and Mohamed Abdi Gulet are listed as owners of Rolling Cargo Company Limited while Stella Nyamu is listed as a sole secretary.
