Hassan Joho has alleged another attempt by Jubilee to frustrate him from filing his tax returns with KRA.
The Mombasa Governor said on Thursday that he has been trying to file his returns since Wednesday, but gets the message, “the user is cancelled”.
Joho claimed his KRA Pin has been blocked, therefore it is now impossible for him to file returns as required by law. He also said his brothers, Abu and Hussein, are experiencing a similar problem.
"No amount of intimidation and arm twisting will change my course in politics," he said through county director of communication Richard Chacha.
Joho said in the statement that Jubilee is trying to muzzle him over his political stance and "for being bold and vocal on issues affecting" his people.
"The Jubilee administration has fought me and my family from all angles. If this is the price I have to pay for defending my people and speaking the truth, so be it,” he said.
Joho, who has been in a tug-of-war with KRA since 2013, said he has never failed to file his tax returns every year as required by the law.
"Let the Jubilee administration know that time will come when they will answer the people for the desperate moves to suppress those with dissenting opinions,” he said.
KRA Southern Region senior assistant communication commissioner Fatma Yusuf said they will not talk about the issue, since it infringes on Joho’s privacy.
“If KRA has an issue with the Governor, we shall approach him as a person. We cannot divulge any information regarding his KRA pin status, unless it is through a court order,” she told the Star on phone.
In March, the taxman obtained court orders stopping Joho from transferring or withdrawing money from his CFC Stanbic Bank account to allow an assessment into his tax returns.
High Court Judge Justice Hedwig Ongudi granted the orders in an application filed by KRA, which alleged that the governor had not met some of his tax obligations.
KRA said Joho last filed his tax returns in 2014.
Justus Kiuvu, one of the officers investigating Joho’s tax evasion, said in an affidavit that the governor last returns were for the years 2008 - 2013.
Kiuvu further said Joho filed nil returns for all the years, except in 2010 when he returned Sh1, 000 only.
"Despite declaring nil tax, he is the registered owner of two high-end motor vehicles - Rolls Royce KBR 001R and Porsche Cayenne KCG 001J,” the investigator said in the court documents.