Officers from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) have identified a group of rich Kenyans owing the country billions in unpaid taxes.
KRA established that the group which makes a lot of money, has been withholding up to Sh250 billion in unpaid taxes, comparing what they have been paying with their earnings.
KRA Commissioner-General Githii Mburu revealed on Monday that the detectives have discovered the same trend in some high-earning firms.
"We already have established and it is in our record (the Sh250 billion). Whenever we profile a company or an individual taxpayer, we look at what they are earning, their sources of income and everything else vis-a-vis what they have declared," he told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
He added that KRA has since notified the group, which is largely made up of business people, that they are under scrutiny, with their import records being under investigations.
The KRA enforcement unit had also been looking into Kenya Power records, motor vehicle registration details and water bills of the suspected tax cheats.
"There are those who are already in the tax base but don’t pay correct taxes. We have those who have payroll numbers but they don’t declare income from their properties like rent,” he added.
So far, the authority has since pounced on a number of notable business people suspected to be tax cheats and arraigned them in court.
They include Keroche Breweries bosses Tabitha Wanjiru and her husband Joseph Karanja and tycoon Humphrey Kariuki.