Tax consultant to spend 8 years in jail over fraud

By Moses Oketayot

Wabyona Jackson Rubanjwa being a tax consultant for Sun Mutual Capital Limited and Jireh Hardware and Construction (2014) Ltd during the period of January 2018 to March 2022 in Kampala district, generated and issued false invoices and filled false VAT returns.

He filed returns for and on behalf of Sun Mutual Capital Limited purporting to have made supplies amounting to Ugx50,227,614,511 whereas not and basing on that 120 tax payers claimed input VAT against those false purchases worth Ugx9,029,500,609.

URA’s Manager of Prosecution – Hilda Bakanansa says that the accused, Wabyona also filed VAT returns on behalf of Jireh Hardware and construction (2014) Ltd purporting to have made purchases amounting to Ugx1,906,663,584 from Sun Mutual Capital Limited whereas not thereby causing another tax loss of Ugx343,199,445 to the government of Uganda.

Further investigations revealed that having access to the TIN profile of Sun Mutual Capital Limited as the person responsible for return filing, he without their consent and authority amended the directorship, telephone contacts and email details of the company to avoid any notifications being sent to the directors of the said company regarding the false invoices he was declaring for and on their behalf.

On 20^th December 2022, Wabyona was arraigned before the anti-corruption Court and charged with 4 counts of making false statements to a tax officer contrary to section 58(1)(a) of the Tax Procedures Code Act 2014 and one count of use of a false tin to a tax officer contrary to section 57 of The Tax Procedures Code Act 2014.

He pleaded guilty to all the charges and was accordingly convicted on his own plea of guilt.

The prosecution (URA) represented by Bakanansa Hilda and Allan Nkoyooyo prayed to court for a deterrent sentence preferably custodial, noting the aggravating circumstances submitted and loss occasioned to the government in order to send out a message to the public that such activities/dealings are unacceptable.

Court sentenced the accused to 2 years,8 years,12 months, 4 years, and 5 years for counts 1,2,3,4, & 5 respectively noting that the years shall be non-cumulative.

No fines were awarded and the court made no pronunciation as regards compensation to the government.