A Mombasa Law Court has summoned Kinakomba Ward Member of County Assembly (MCA) Babusa Hamid Salim to face Ksh8.6 million tax fraud charges.
Principal Magistrate David Odhiambo on Monday, April 15, 2024, ordered the politician to present himself in court in person on Thursday this week to answer six charges of failure to pay taxes for business activities done with Tana River County through his firm.
in a charge sheet filed in court by the Office of the Direction of Public Prosecutions(ODPP), Babusa through his company Darweish Constructors Limited, is accused of six counts of tax fraud and failure to pay income and value-added taxes amounting to Ksh8,697,748 despite deriving income from supplies worth Ksh21 million to the County Government of Tana River from 2020 to 2022.
Among the offences is failure to pay corporation tax amounting to Ksh491,379 in 2020, Ksh3,631,113 in 2021 and Ksh1,565,976 in 2022 contrary to section 95 read with section 104 (1) of the Tax Procedures Act.
Other offences include fraud in relation to tax by omission from VAT returns of Ksh237,500 in 2020, Ksh1,936,593 in 2021 and Ksh835,187 in 2022 contrary to Sections 97 (a) and 104 (3) of the Tax Procedures Act.
"Babusa and Darweish Constructors Limited being registered taxpayers chargeable to tax within the republic of Kenya and in receipt of income derived from business activities within Tana River County knowingly and deliberately failed to pay corporate tax amounting to Ksh3,631,113 for the year ending 2021," count two of the charges states.
The court has directed that the MCA should appear before Mombasa Principal Magistrate David Odhiambo on Thursday for plea-taking.
This is the second case of tax fraud to be flagged by the Kenya Revenue Authority after the directors of Bendegwa Limited were charged with failure to pay Ksh3,769,984 after trading with the County Government of Tana River.
Bendegwa Limited supplied goods worth Ksh8,339,400 to the County Government of Tana River on diverse dates between January 1, 2017 and August 31, 2023.
The company’s two directors Imani Sango Mponoa and Vilimine Nababe Moses have also been summoned to appear on April 15, 2024, before Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate Rita Orora.
