In our story of April 7th 2018 (titled MAN LOSES JOB FOR REPORTING TAX EVASION, SEEKS, M7 & IGG PROTECTION), we indicated that a former employee of Kampala Nissan/East African Motors had reported to the President, IGG Irene Mulyagonja, COSASE Chairman Abdul Katuntu and Finance Minister Matia Kasaija calling on them to intervene to get the URA officials take his complaint more seriously. The letter was also copied to URA Commissioner General Doris Akol and therein, the whistle blower accused URA staffers on not only of failing to take his information seriously but for also not doing enough to protect his identity as a whistle blower, something that resulted in his loss of job and subsequent witch hunt by his former employers.
URA SPEAKS OUT;
Whereas in our April 7th story we had a comment from Akol referring the whistle blower to the URA Kamwokya offices at House of Hope where she directed him to contact Mr. Mathew Mugabe (about whom the whistle blower had biases), URA Ag Assistant Commissioner Public & Corporate Affairs Ian Rumanyika last night released a media statement containing an elaborate response to the whistle blower’s claims. Amiable Rumanyika explains that in existence at URA is an Informer Management & Reward Policy (IMRP) whose relevant committee sits and scrutinizes each of the whistle blower complaints they get. He explains that before any steps are taken, this committee determines whether the complaint is credible and sufficiently substantiated to merit commencement of an audit or investigation on the tax payer or business entity being complained about. “We also have a mechanism to protect the identity of the informer and track accountability of the information submitted,” he elaborates. He adds the following clearly disputing the version this particular Kampala Nissan whistle blower communicated in his complaint to the President, IGG, Katuntu and Kasaija.
VERBATTIM;
The following is what Rumanyika specifically says and we quote him verbatim for the rest of the story:
“Whereas the informer complains of the unnecessary delays, it should be noted that his initial submissions to URA did not meet the minimum standard for Investigations since most of it was not specific to the exact tax violations and efforts to obtain additional information from him were futile as the phone number that he provided was unreachable. Progress was only made after he resurfaced and put his allegations in writing on 23rd May 2016. At the time, he had submitted information on other three related companies, making a total of four companies. Only information on two of the companies was sufficient to issue him the Tax evaders Information Form (TIF) and he was required to avail additional information on the remaining two.
The investigations were therefore progressed in line with the departmental guidelines on these two as we awaited additional information on the remaining companies, whose TIFs were issued much later after the team had gathered additional information. URA therefore notes with concern that despite all efforts to protect whistle blowers/informers and tax payer confidentiality as required by law and procedure that are embedded within our operations this particular informer has engaged himself in revealing his identity and information to the public and this affects investigations.
We further wish to clarify that there has been no connivance between the investigators and the taxpayers, this is not true as alleged by the informer. The investigations are in advanced stages and have been conducted in line with the laid down procedures amidst scanty information that had to be solicited from third parties from within the country and beyond. However, should the informer or any member of the public produce evidence to prove any unbecoming behavior by any of our staff, they should report to our Internal Audit and Compliance Department and the necessary disciplinary measures will be undertaken.
The general public is therefore advised to follow the laid down procedures whenever they have a tax evasion disclosure to make to URA. This information will be subjected to procedures and guidelines in place to ensure that the quality of our audits and investigations are accurate. More information on whistle blowing and reward management can be obtained from our web portal on; www.ura.go.ug and look for “compliance”, then “report non-compliance”. Alternatively, any other inquiries can be channeled to the Public & Corporate Affairs office at URA headquarters.
As URA, we are still committed to mobilizing Revenue and working with the Public to break any corruption syndicates and bring to book any form aggressive tax planning schemes that some taxpayers may be involved in. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755!
