KRA Officials Take Hefty Bribes from British American Tobacco

Almost every Kenyan is aware of the phrase ‘Afro Cinema continues shortly…’ but in line with the BAT saga in Kenya at the moment, the appropriate phrase would be ‘Afro Cinema goes on and on…’

Ever since the British American Tobacco company was mentioned in allegations of having bribed a top politician who was then a powerful minister in order to shoot down bills concerning the cigarette manufacturer, many bribe claims against the company are still popping up.

It has now emerged that British American Tobacco gave hefty bribes to top most ranking Kenya Revenue Authority officials so that they could act as spies on a rival company. This is according to the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC.

It is said that the hefty cash was paid to the Kenya Revenue Authority officials so that they could hand over files that belonged to rival company, the Mastermind Tobacco.

The shocking document by BBC goes on to show that the officials from KRA took hefty bribes in terms of cash from BAT so that they could make numerous tax demands from Mastermind Tobacco as a way of intimidating and damaging the image as well as the reputation of Mastermind Tobacco.

According to Paul Hopkins, an employee of BAT for a total of 13 years, he was the one who used to arrange the delivering of the bribe cash to the KRA officials, members of parliament, insiders in rival companies as well as to the representatives of the United Nations. This is from the BBC Panorama programme that has exposed all these.

These claims against the Kenya Revenue Authority come just a few months after President Uhuru Kenyatta demanded for the lifestyle audit of all the KRA officials in order to determine their credibility as well as a way of creating transparency and accountability among the institution that determines the financial status of the nation.

Kenya Revenue Authority has vehemently refuted the claims calling them baseless innuendos and at the same time asking those with sufficient evidence on the claims to go to court.

Article by Juma Fred.