The KRA boss James Mburu on Friday declared a National Land Commission nominee tax noncompliant.
Mburu told the National Assembly’s Lands Committee that former Isiolo woman rep Tiya Galgalo’s tax compliance certificate was not valid as she had not filed returns for 2017 and 2018.
Galgalo had submitted the same tax compliance certificate to the NLC selection panel and the vetting committee.
Appearing before the Lands Committee chaired by Kitui South MP Rachael Namai, Mburu said the commission was investigating the matter.
“We are investigating our staff to establish who helped her obtain the fake compliance certificate, it cannot be valid until we verify the details,” Mburu told the committee.
According to Mburu, Galgalo has not filed income tax returns for 2017 and 2018 when she served in Parliament and Isiolo county as CEC respectively.
Galgalo denied fraudulently obtaining the document saying she applied for her tax compliance certificate online and it was sent to her on November 23 last year via email.
“I have not generated this document myself. At no time did I obtain this document through corruption,” Galgalo said.
The taxman however clarified that NLC chair nominee Gershom Otachi is tax compliant.
Otachi is set to replace Mohamed Swazuri if he gets the nod of both the committee and the House.
On Thursday, Otachi’s tax compliance status was questioned after two documents from KRA gave conflicting information on whether he met the law.
Otachi presented a tax certificate dated June 12 showing he is compliant. But communication from KRA at the request of the committee’s secretariat indicated he was not.
On Friday, the committee vetted Hubbie Al-Haji, Alister Mutugi and Tiya Galgalo.
Hubbie was also put to task about her conflicting marital status. In the questionnaire, she indicated she is divorced while her CV indicated she is married.
“I want to clarify that I am a divorced woman. I don’t have any husband at the moment. I am sorry the CV has not been updated,” Hubbie told the committee.
“I was married to one of the former commissioners but we are divorced. I want to assure the committee that the former commissioner will not have any influence on me if I am confirmed,” she said.
The committee concluded vetting on Friday and retreated to Mombasa for report writing.
