BY SAM ALFAN.
You cannot demand nearly half a billion from SC Prof Tom Ojienda, court tells KRA.
The high court also stopped Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) from conducting an assessment of the tax and demanding over Ksh443 million as tax from Professor Ojienda.
While delivering the judgement, Justice John Mativo on behalf of Justice George Odunga gave an order of certiorari quashing the assessment conducted by KRA, its agents, employees or servants as contained in a letter dated June 7,2016.
The letter was directing Prof Ojienda to pay Sh443,631,900 owed to it from 2000-2009.
The judge also quashed the decision by KRA contained in a letter dated September 5, 2016 as an objection directed to the lawyer demanding for Sh378,682,140 owed from 2011-2016.
According to the lawyer, he maintained four accounts three of which were Barclays bank while one was with standard chartered bank.
He said that he was to receive and keep his clients’ money in the accounts as statutory obligation and he did so without delay.
He averred that as a registered tax payer, he has over the year’s been submitting his tax returns to KRA and VAT through his firm.
However KRA defended itself by claiming that they were investigating Ojienda’s March1, 2016 after receiving intelligence information that there were allegations by the senate that the Nairobi county government had procured legal services from his firm at the cost of Sh92.8million.
“We proceeded to set out the particulars of the various bank accounts which in our view, Ojienda held either personally or jointly and indicated part of the assessment”, KRA said.
Prof Ojienda however accused the tax man of subjecting his four bank accounts to taxation and violation of his fundamental right and fair administration action.
He claimed that the move was purely political, malicious, vindictive and calculated to embarrass him.
