Timber smugglers invade Kenya

By George Olwenya

They come in huge trucks loaded with rare timber. They are confident and cunning making Ugandan and Kenyan security agents to salute them and even escort their illicit cargo instead of throwing them behind bars. Many of them have become rich overnight.

At the Busia border crossing, they tell police and custom officials that their cargo —high quality mahogany timber —is from Uganda to evade paying tax. Yet the timber is sourced from the Congo Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Besides, they also falsify the cargo’s weight to escape penalty at the weighbridges between Busia and Nairobi.

Last month, patriotic police officers from Siaya shattered the syndicate in which DRC, Uganda and Kenyan authorities may have been losing millions of shillings in unpaid duty.

Elaborate plans

The officers blew the lid off the multi-million-timber import scam and have since impounded several lorries transporting the cargo to Nairobi after evading duty.

Police in Siaya suspect that the elaborate scam involves KRA officials, weigh bridge officers and even rogue policemen who collude with unscrupulous businessmen transporting timber used in making special furniture.

Those arrested by police in Siaya along the Kisumu-Busia road produce fake Import Declaration forms and claim they bought the cargo from Uganda yet they are from DRC.

Siaya OCPD Johnston Ipara and his CID counterpart Kariuki Ngugi last week declared that they would not allow the trucks to use part of the Kisumu-Busia road under their jurisdiction.

"Let them look for another route to play their games but not through Siaya, Ugenya and Gem Districts," said Ipara.

Recently, police intercepted a truck at Ugunja along the Kisumu-Busia road carrying Mahogany timber destined for Nairobi.

When asked for the import declaration forms and weigh bridge receipts, they produced photocopies.

Police realised that the documents indicated the timber had come from Uganda but upon further interrogation of the driver and the loader, it was discovered that the cargo was from DRC.

"The driver and the conductor admitted that they were Congolese and they were transporting the timber from their country to Nairobi," noted Ipara.

On further scrutiny, police established that the documents had been forged and also realised that the load being carried was excessive.

"I personally went to the scene and confirmed that the documents were not genuine save for the rubber stamps on them," said the CID boss.

The documents, he says, had been extracted from a file, the original information covered and then a photocopy produced.

Open forgery

"It is this photocopy that they used to fill in fresh information regarding the transporters. But the marks showing the forgery were openly visible," said Ngugi.

Other documents from the weighbridge at Busia showed that the truck declared at the boarder that it was carrying 20 tonnes of timber though it is allowed to carry up to 47 tonnes.

But when Siaya police called in a mobile weighbridge team and subjected the vehicle to another check, the total load recorded was 101.45 tonnes.

This means that the Government had lost revenue, which was due to KRA forcing police to arrest both the owner and driver of the track.

When they appeared in court, they were found guilty of carrying excess cargo of 51.45 tonnes.

The driver was fined Sh200,000 which the owner paid. The police in Siaya insisted that the required duty for KRA had to be paid before they could release the vehicle and the cargo.

What puzzled the police is that they were forced to go to KRA offices in Kisumu to protest because KRA officials looked reluctant to handle the matter, but at the end the owner paid Sh240,000 in duty.

Last week, police in Siaya again impounded another lorry carrying Mahogany timber at Yala along the Busia-Kisumu road, which had fake documents.

Prominent personalities

The documents indicated that the load had been weighed at Busia and declared to be 36 tonnes. But when Siaya police brought in mobile weighbridge, it was found to be carrying 75 tonnes.

Police told CCI that documents produced by the transporters were just photocopies. The crew also claimed they had sourced the timber from Uganda. Police ordered the crew to go back to Busia and get KRA clearance, which they did after paying a Sh221,000 fine. Uganda is covered under the COMESA agreement and, therefore, such goods coming from the country are zero rated. However, DRC is not part of the COMESA countries.

"It is common knowledge that Mahogany comes from the equatorial forest of Congo and not Uganda," says Ipara.

Police say the racket involves prominent personalities in the country. "It seems the officers at the Busia entry point are in their pay-roll and that is why they are abating the scandal," said Ipara.

He appealed to the commissioner of KRA to move in fast and stop the vice and also punish the culprits.

But a senior KRA official whose jurisdiction also includes the Busia border customs office said he was not aware of the alleged collusion between his officers and the transporters.

He also said he was not aware that the timber traders were falsifying documents to evade tax.

"I am not aware. I will investigate, but even if I found anything I would not discuss it with you because I am not allowed to speak to he media," said the official who asked not to be named.

Efforts to get a comment from the Head of Corporate Communication at KRA Mr Kennedy Onyonyi were unsuccessful. His secretary promised to ask him to call CCI but by the time of going to press he had not called.

"I will ensure Mr Onyonyi calls you back with full information," the secretary said whenever we called.