Sh20m bounty offered for capture of fugitive, Sh 10.6bn out of Sh12.6bn paid.
At least two people have been apprehended in connection with the loss of 329 containers at Dar es Salaam port while one is still at large.
The police have announced a reward of Sh20m for anyone with information that will help nab the lone fugitive at large.
Dar es Salaam Police Special Zone Commander Suleiman Kova yesterday named the fugitive as Abdulkadir Kassim Abdi (38), a resident of Dar es salaam, whom he said was the facilitator of the clearance of 329 containers which denied the government of Sh12.6bn in tax.
Kova said that as of yesterday, the end of the seven-day grace period given by President John Magufuli, at least Sh10.6bn had been paid to the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) by the defaulters.
He was briefing the press in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
Kova explained that the police were hunting for Abdi, a resident of Temeke, who is the executive director of Regional Cargo Service Ltd, whose company facilitated the clearance of the 329 containers from Azam Inland Container Deport (ICD) without paying tax. Being also among the directors of Jas Express Freight Ltd and XL Clearing and Forwarding Co Ltd, he also collaborated with the two companies to evade taxes for the 329 containers, Kova said.
According to the police, Abdi disappeared soon after the scandal was revealed by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa. He however noted that the police were holding two directors of the companies involved, namely Safari Kasera (39) and Godfrey Masilimba (37).
Kova added that in total 40 people were being held by the police in connection with the missing containers.
Meanwhile, TRA Manager for TaxpPayer Service and Education Diana Masala told the media that the authority had collected Sh 10,075,979,462.8 from 28 companies involved in the missing containers.
She said out of the 28 companies, six had cleared the payments, including penalties, while 16 had paid some of the money due while 26 companies, which were supposed to pay a total of Shs 4.7bn, had not paid at all.
“The Shs 10bn has been by Thursday but because the deadline expires today (yesterday) we expect more companies to clear their debts,” she said.
Last week TRA exposed 43 firms involved in the missing container scam. TRA said it had collected Sh5bn from the companies whose containers had been assessed a total tax amounting to Sh12.6 billion.
TRA Acting Commissioner General, Dr Philip Mpango, said that earlier the companies which evaded tax were supposed to pay the outstanding taxes with penalties, but they would now be required to pay only the assessed tax within seven days as directed by President John Magufuli last Thursday, but warned that they would be penalized if they did not meet the deadline.
Last month President John Pombe Magufuli suspended TRA Commissioner General Rished Bade and appointed Dr Mpango to take over following the disappearance of 349 containers worth Sh 80 billion.
The suspension followed Prime Minister Majaliwa’s impromptu tour of Tanzania Port Authority (TPA).
Top five officials who were suspended by the Prime Minister included TRA Commissioner of Customs Tiagi Masamaki, Head of Customer Service Centre Habibu Mponezya, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) official Haruni Mpande.
Internal Container Deport (ICD) in Charge Eliachi Mrema and Mr Hamisi Ali Omari, whose department was not identified.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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