Chinese Mobile Phone Maker X-Tigi with sales operations in Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Togo, Senegal, Cameroon, Dubai, Benin, Rwanda and Ghana has been charged with $1.94 million in tax evasion in Kenya.
Mr. Gao Fei, a Chinese national and the Director of New X-TIGI Technology Company Limited, was today charged with failure to declare and remit taxes for a period of eight months that was commensurate to the company’s sales.
Mr. Fei was charged at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, Kenya with three counts of failure to submit tax returns and pay taxes amounting to Kshs. 194 Million. (1.94M) and denied the charges before Senior Resident Magistrate Caroline Nzibe.
X-Tigi deals with both wholesale and distribution of Chinese mobile phones X-Tigi brands, chargers, phone covers, earphones and other allied accessories and has been operating in Kenya for a while.
Mr. Fei was released on a cash bail of Kenya shillings one hundred and fifty thousand (Kshs. 150,000/=) with a Kenyan surety of one million bond and ordered deposit his passport in court. He is scheduled to appear in court on 26th September 2019.
Mr. Fei, as the company representative, was charged with failing to pay Kshs. 194,357,743 in taxes and failing to file returns for 2015 and 2016 Financial Years as required under Tax Procedures Act, 2015.
As early as September 2016, the Kenya Revenue Authority had wanted the accounts of the firm frozen as it was allegedly not paying tax on its imported products into the country. KRA claimed X-Tigi was not declaring taxes as required by law. The director was also accused of transferring cash from his four bank accounts in Kenya to Hong Kong as profit repatriation from the country.
New X-TIGI Technology Company Limited is the sole distributor of the X-Tigi mobile phones, chargers, phone covers, earphones and other accessories in Kenya and has widely circulated the phones in the Kenyan market slightly behind Transsion brands TECNO, Infinix and iTel.
New X-Tigi Technology Company was registered in Kenya on December 8 2015 and is based at Vision Plaza in Nairobi’s central business district.
Earlier, Asenath Obaga, a KRA investigator said: “Mr Fei has never filed returns or any taxes yet he earns income and runs a US dollar account with considerable deposits. There has been regular funds transfer to a bank account in Hong Kong suspected to be income derived from the business. The director and agents of X-Tigi are Chinese nationals hence there is a high risk of them leaving the country without payment of taxes found due after the assessment or frustrating the recovery of taxes.”
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