A container loaded with a donation of electronic items and illegally cleared from the port by the Tanga-based West Freight Forwarders Company Limited is under intensive investigations by Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).
Deputy TRA Commissioner General Rished Bade
Deputy TRA Commissioner General Rished Bade told the ‘Daily News’ in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday that his team of investigators is following up the grossly under-declared consignment, which belongs to the Gongo la Mboto (Dar es Salaam) parish of the Baptist Church.
“I was outside the country and have just arrived, but our team is already investigating the case,” Mr Bade said in a text message on Tuesday.
Tax exemptions to charity and non-profit organisations cost the country up to four per cent of its annual national budget. Last April while presenting the government’s budget to the parliament, Finance Minister William Mgimwa promised to rein in tax evasion and exemptions.
Investigations by this newspaper have established that police officers from the Buguruni Police Station last week intercepted a container belonging to the church while offloading the electronic goods at Gongo la Mboto.
The container which had 275 pieces of electronic items — 68 desktop computers, 22 photocopy machines, 28 refrigerators, 23 colour printer machines, 15 television sets, 15 pieces of radio and speakers, 14 microwaves, 13 video decks and nine laptops among many other goods, had a declared value of 1,271.50 US dollars (over 2m/-).
“The container arrived at Dar es Salaam Port from Australia last September and was lined up for exemption when it was smuggled out by a West Freight official and some unfaithful customs officials,” a source privy to the deal said.
The container, whose contents were donated by Australian African Aid through Rotary Club of Perth, was seized by the police last Wednesday before detaining it overnight at the police station only to be “miraculously’’ released the next day.
“The container was brought here as a security measure, it was not seized,” said a senior police officer at the station who preferred not to be identified. But after the ‘Daily News’ inquiry, the container was seized again on the same day and handed over to TRA officials, sources said.
Documentary evidence shows that the importers grossly under-declared the value of the used goods in the container, with the 68 desktop computers valued at 408 US dollars, translating into six dollars (about 10,000/-) per piece.
The value of HP photocopier machines was put at 3 US dollars each or about 4,500/-; HP printers at 6 US dollars each or about 9,600/- while a laptop was listed as valued at 3 US dollars or 4,500/- each.
When contacted to give their side of the story, Pastor Asukulu Ilembo of the Baptist Church and a Dar es Salaam-based representative of West Freight Forwarders Company Limited who could not be identified, said there was nothing wrong with the consignment.
“You can come to the customs office Thursday morning so that I can show you all the documentation for the container backed by a TRA customs official who was involved in its clearance,” said the West Freight official who, however, did not turn up for the appointment last Friday.
By FINNIGAN WA SIMBEYE, Tanzania Daily News
