A businessman, of Italian origin, dealing in construction material has been arraigned before Mombasa Chief Magistrate Ms Edna Nyaloti and charged with inflating purchases by Kshs 79,312,856 million to evade taxes.

The accused, Tony Rosafio and his firm Smoky Hill Limited, which he is a director, were jointly charged with five counts of making an incorrect statement to defraud the government of tax revenue.

The court heard that between July 2015 and December 2019 at Kilifi County within the republic of Kenya Mr. Rosafio, jointly with others not before court, knowingly made incorrect statements to the Commissioner of Domestic taxes in the company’s Value Added Tax (VAT) returns, by claiming fictitious purchases amounting to a total of 79,312,856, thereby reducing the company’s value added tax payable for the period by a total of Ksh20,176,827.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge and the chief magistrate released him on a bond of Ksh4 million, and an alternative cash bail of Ksh1 million, with a Kenyan surety since he is a foreigner. The court fixed the mention of the case on 18th February, 2020.

According to the prosecution, Smoky Hill Limited deliberately and knowingly failed to declare income earned and unjustifiably used fictitious invoices to defraud the government tax revenue. Further, the company neither filed Income Tax Company Returns for the years of income 2015-2018 nor paid any corporation tax on the same.

KRA made several unsuccessful attempts to engage the company through its directors. This was after in depth investigations carried out by KRA’s Investigation and Enforcement Department. KRA calls upon all taxpayers in Kenyan to not only pay their rightful share of taxes but also desist from tax evasion schemes.

Commissioner, Investigation and Enforcement Department