A Mombasa contractor on Monday was charged with evading Sh41 million in taxes.
Joseph Okumu, who faced nine counts, was charged alongside his company Jomoyosh Building Contractors Limited. Okumu was accused of evading up to Sh31 million and another Sh9.7 million in taxes.
Being a director of the firm, he was accused of earning taxable income jointly with others, not before the court, and unlawfully making incorrect statements in their Income tax return for four consecutive years.
His action reduced his Corporate Tax Liability by Sh31,417,070 payable to the KRA commissioner as required by the Income Tax Act.
Okumu was further accused of unlawful making incorrect statements between February 2015 and January 2019 in his VAT return for the period, which reduced his tax liability by Sh9,670,344.
He pleaded not guilty before Mombasa senior principal magistrate Vincent Adet and was released on Sh2 million bond with Sh500,000 bail. The case will be mentioned on December 9.
In a separate case, businesswoman Rebeccah Akinyiwas also charged with four counts of tax evasion totalling Sh2.9 million between 2015 and 2018. She denied charges in the same court.
She was released on a surety bond of Sh1 million with an alternative Sh200,000 bail. Her case will also be mentioned on December 9.
