Three agents charged with wrong declaration of goods out on bond

Three clearing agents were yesterday charged with wrong declaration of imported goods worth Sh1.7 million in taxes.

The agents claimed the goods were personal items of a Kenyan relocating from abroad.

The three, who are also directors of two clearing companies, were accused of using wrong custom regime code to declare to Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) goods that belonged to various importers.

Mohamed Ali Abdi, Abdifatah Ali Noor and their company Freight Logistics Limited are accused of evading paying Sh1,157,789 to the taxman. Also charged with tax evasion is George Onyango Orek and his company Jamrek Enterprises.

The three denied the charges before Senior Resident Magistrate Martin Rabera. The case will be mentioned on August 6.

Abdi and Noor were each released on a Sh500,000 bond with an alternative cash bail of Sh100,000 while Orek was admitted to a bond of Sh100,000 with an alternative cash bail of Sh50,000.

“They declared the importer was returning from abroad with personal items but upon verification, it was found she never travelled out of Kenya. The goods belonged to several individuals,” said KRA Commissioner of Investigations D K S Yego.