KRA suspects to appear in court over graft

Several Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) employees are expected in court on Monday over claims of corruption.

The suspects were locked up in groups at Central, Kilimani and Parklands police stations where they spent the weekend.

The suspects include junior officers and their bosses. They are accused of aiding tax evasion. Most of the suspects are at the entry level cadre known as “officer” which is under “supervisor”.

It is, however, unclear what role KRA would play in the prosecution of its employees even as details emerge about covert operations that unearthed the massive fraud.

Information gathered by the spies will be central to the prosecution with some workers being lined up to testify against their interdicted colleagues.

Most of the affected were junior officials whose fault, according to insiders, was asking for favours from clients in exchange for services.

It is such demands that the spies, sometimes placed as customer care assistants to receive complaints, documented to be used as evidence in the prosecution.

The secret agents were spread out to the highest levels with knowledge of only a handful of officials.

James Githii Mburu, the Commissioner for Intelligence and Strategic Operations, widely viewed as a potential appointee to the top job in KRA, led the four-month investigations.  

Several staff said there was growing unease at the various stations of KRA, with employees unsure whom to trust anymore.

“Currently, there is a marketing person in all departments under the guise of offering front office services. So technically, they record all information as they pretentiously handle customer complaints and inquiries,” a senior KRA officer said.

The massive recruitment of the moles as interns in the marketing department, headed by Commissioner Grace Wandera, had by January raised some eyebrows.

Ms Wandera’s department had a huge spike on its budget for the year in an operation passed as rebranding.

“Even as the key revenue departments struggled with staff shortage, marketing continued to recruit and that was a red flag as it is more of a support function rather than core,” said the source.

National Intelligence Services is reported to have approached KRA with the proposal which was approved with an endgame of absorbing some of the interns to fill the vacancies left after the purge.

There are fears of another round of interdiction as revenue collection stagnates, with staff accused of being the biggest impediment by aiding tax evaders.  

Noted revenue leakages include undervaluation of imports to enable traders pay less. There is also irregular issuance of compliance certificates to individuals and businesses that do not qualify.