Directors of sugar importing company charged for withholding Sh1.8 billion VAT

Three directors of a sugar importing company were charged with failing to pay over Sh1.8 billion in taxes.

The taxes were for sugar sold between 2013 and 2018.

Yasin Sheik Mahamud, Amina Mohamud Ahmed and Abdinoor Muhiadin Alinoor denied 10 counts of failing to pay tax amounting to Sh1,850,582,099.

The three suspects, who were directors of Sukari Investment Limited at various years between 2013 and 2018, were arraigned before Mombasa Principal Magistrate Edgar Kagoni.

They were released on a Sh10 million bond with one surety, with an alternative of Sh4 million cash bail.

Their lawyer Cohen Amanya told the court the figures cited were not a true reflection of the reality.

However, prosecution lawyer Moses Ado insisted that the figures quoted were real. “We don’t oppose bond but the court should be guided by the charges,” he said.

The court heard that Mahamud and Mohamud failed to pay Value Added Tax (Vat) amounting to Sh16,071,812 arising from sales by the company between January 1 and December 31, 2014.

They are also accused of failing to submit Vat returns for December 1, 2013 and November 1, 2014.

The two also face charges of failing to pay Sh19,473,818 between January 20, 2015 and December 20, 2016 arising from sales made between December 1, 2014 and November 1, 2015.

They face another charge of defaulting to pay Sh32,075,764 between January 20, 2016 and December 2016 from the sales made between December 3, 2016 and December 31, 2016.

The three are also charged with failing to pay Vat of Sh200,473,527 between January 20, 2016 and January 20, 2017 from the sales made between December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2016.

Mahamud was also charged together with Alinoor for failing to pay Vat amounting to Sh98,887,462 between February 20, 2017 and January 1 last year, arising from the sale made between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017.

Mahamud and Alinoor were charged for failing to pay Sh1,141,230,551 Vat between February 20, 2017 and January 20, last year from sales of January 1 2017 and December 31, 2017.

They also face another charge of failing to pay Sh342,369,165 on June 30, 2016 from income made in 2017.

Mahamud and Alinoor are charged with defaulting to pay Sh1,141,230,551 on June 30, 2018 arising from income made in 2017.