THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority have joined forces to curb the abuse of tax rebates extended to civil servants by the Government so they could import vehicles duty free, and the two agencies have seized 36 vehicles since the start of the operation.
The corruption and abuse starts with a civil servant
importing a vehicle for someone else and charging a fee of between US$700 and
US$1 500 depending on the type of vehicle. The vehicle however, remains
registered in the names of the civil servant involved while being driven by
others.
According to the National Anti-Corruption Commission Strategy
sub-committee 2 report presented last week, investigations into the misuse of
Government rebates are still in progress and huge successes are being
registered.
There has been great co-operation between agencies with the
team now working together towards the same goals.
Numerous car dealers arrested by ZACC have since appeared
before the courts for allegedly importing vehicles using fake civil service
rebate letters.
The anti-graft committee seeks to enhance structures for
deterrence, through detection, adherence, improved compliance with
anti-corruption and integrity management and enforcement obligations and
mechanisms across sectors.
Joint investigations are being conducted by ZACC, the
Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and ZIMRA.
When contacted for comment, ZACC spokesperson Commissioner
Thandiwe Mlobane said she could not immediately give further details.
Many car dealers in Harare and other areas are reportedly
importing vehicles in the name of civil servants duty-free and the civil servants,
if they do not want a duty-free car themselves, can get a payment for allowing
their name to be used to evade customs duty.
This fraud has prejudiced the State of revenue as people
who should pay duty are now importing cars for free, and while some of the
saved duty ends up with a civil servant rather than the car buyer, and the
Government still loses out.
The imported cars often end up on display at car sales and
other garages.
Conditions for the rebate are that the State employee must
have a valid driver’s licence, must have served for not less than 10 years,
only one car can be imported every five years and the car value depends on the
employee’s grade. Herald
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