WEALTHY KENYANS RETURN USD 113.9M STASHED ABROAD

NA IROB I - Wealthy Kenyans filed to return USD 113.9 million assets from foreign countries in the final year of a tax pardon, official data shows.

The value was declared for repatriation in the period ended June 2019 after the Treasury extended the amnesty process by a year.

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) received 3, 543 amnesty applications in the period, a report submitted to the National Assembly’s Committee on Finance and National Planning shows.

In extending the time for declaring and returning the riches stashed abroad, suspended Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich had cited lack of clarity on whether the cash repatriated home should be subjected to provisions of

Proceeds of Crime and Money Laundering Act.

That law requires persons transacting USD 9660.80 and more to declare the source of their wealth to the Financial Reporting Centre, the anti-money laundering agency.

“The amnesty was extended for a further year and assurance given that once the money is transferred, there will be no follow-up on the source of the funds,” KRA says in the report. “The amendment was Antimeant to allow more time for persons seeking amnesty and create favourable environment for repatriation of funds.”

The exemption, however, excluded people who accumulated riches abroad from crimes of terrorism, poaching and drug trafficking.

“That was supposed to be a sweetener, but practicability part of it is that it was not possible because if I bring the money, you may not tell the source,” said Stephen Waweru, a senior tax services manager at KPMG.

The KRA, in a statement to the Business Daily in May, said about Sh1 trillion had been declared by 16, 000 applicants since the window opened.

The blanket amnesty was initially to end in December 2017, but was extended twice to June 2019 following a delay by the taxman to issue guidelines on repatriation of wealth stashed in offshore accounts.