KRA officer charged with soliciting bribe
What you need to know:
- The officer was also charged with receiving another bribe of Sh95,000 from her to issue the letter
- On Thursday evening, KRA issued a statement saying they would continue with the cooperation and warned its staff and the public against tax evasion.
A senior Kenya Revenue Authority officer was on Thursday charged with soliciting a bribe from a businesswoman to change her tax details.
Mr Robert M. Ngumi, a manager in the Domestic Taxes Department, is said to have asked Ms Winfrida Wanjiku for the bribe for him to write a letter authorising the reduction of her company’s tax arrears amounting to Sh18.6 million on March 11.
The officer was also charged with receiving another bribe of Sh95,000 from her to issue the letter.
Mr Ngumi, however, denied the charges and was released on a Sh5 million cash bail.
He was arrested by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission officers following a tip-off.
In October last year, detectives from the anti-graft agency arrested and took to court another domestic tax manager for allegedly trying to get a Sh5 million bribe to help another company evade tax.
The collaboration between the commission and the revenue authority started last October as the taxman moved to arrest the growing trend of tax evasion.
On Thursday evening, KRA issued a statement saying they would continue with the cooperation and warned its staff and the public against tax evasion.
“Today’s prosecution is the culmination of covert efforts that started in 2013 to trail activities that sought to defeat tax collection by assisting in the manipulation of a tax assessment in return for a bribe.
“We also appeal to the general public to report tax-related corruption incidences,” says the statement.
