Kapkwata Named In Tax Fraud

Sep 02, 2002

KAPKWATA Sawmills, a major timber and furniture firm in Kampala, was yesterday named in a tax racket in which the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) lost about sh20m in false declarations.

By Milton Olupot
KAPKWATA Sawmills, a major timber and furniture firm in Kampala, was yesterday named in a tax racket in which the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) lost about sh20m in false declarations.

Capt. Alex Olupot told the URA probe commission chaired by Justice Julia Ssebutinde that in collusion with some URA staff, the Kapkwata management falsely declared the manufacture date of a Mercedes Benz imported in 2001 in order to evade taxes.

He said a director, Jaspal Phaguda, imported an ML 320 automatic Benz manufactured in 1999 with an engine capacity of 3199CC and purported that it was manufactured in 1996.

Olupot, then working with Revenue Protection Services (RPS) on 7th Street, Industrial Area in Kampala, said when the information was leaked to RPS, the mills operation manager admitted the offence.

He said the money due in taxes, sh19,405,839 out of the total sh27,132,920, had not been paid. He named Mugira from URA as having handled the transaction with Kapkwata.

Olupot said he got the clearing documents and saw two different sets, one declaring the vehicle as a 1996 ML 270 Auto Estate with a 2699CC capacity.

Ssebutinde grilled Olupot for shoddy investigations and lack of written statements from the concerned people.

Olupot accepted the omission but pleaded that he had never had any training in investigations.

Olupot said when he was transferred from RPS to SRPS he handed over the file to Maj. David Tweheyo.

Ssebutinde queried why the file was put aside and only resurrected after the probe had been put in place.
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