Taxman knocks at Bishop Kakobe’s door to probe source of wealth

FLORENCE MUGARULA

TANZANIA Revenue Authority (TRA) Commissioner General, Mr Charles Kichere briefs journalists regarding the authority’s investigation on the Full Gospel Bible Fellowship Church (F.G.B.F) Bishop Zachary Kakobe’s source of wealth. (Photo by Iddy Mwema)

FEW days after the Full Gospel Bible Fellowship Church (FGBF) Bishop Zachary Kakobe sounded a controversial statement on his wealth, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) has officially announced the launch of an investigation over the source of his wealth.

The TRA Commissioner General (CG), Mr Charles Kichere said yesterday that the authority would like to know the main sources of Bishop Kakobe’s wealth and see if he pays tax as required by the law of the land.

He said TRA was happy to hear a fellow Tanzanian announcing in public that he is richer than the government and believed that the rich man must be paying taxes to the state. However, the taxman said after going through their documents, they did not find any document to indicate Bishop Kakobe’s tax records at TRA.

“We have no record to stand for Bishop Kakobe’s words, we, therefore, need to investigate how and where he pays taxes,” said Mr Kichere. According to TRA boss, recently, Bishop Kakobe was recorded saying he is richer than the government.

The taxman told reporters that his office was shocked by the information because it expected such kind of rich man to be a great tax payer. He said the government has been building railways, roads and other multibillion infrastructure across the country and that having a rich man who is richer than the government sounds challenging.

He said TRA will investigate Bishop Kakobe to find out if the wealth he claims results from offering or other economic activities. “…and if the wealth he claims is based on offerings from his church congregation, then those people are very rich, but we are going to investigate this and everything will be put clear,” he said. The taxman said TRA will send experts to investigate if Bishop Kakobe is engaged in any other businesses apart from running the church matters.

“In case we find out that Bishop Kakobe is engaged in other economic activities, we will take legal measures against him, which involves imposing taxes on his businesses; he will be required to pay taxes to the government starting from the day he opened that particular business or economic activity,” he noted.

Mr Kichere asked Bishop Kakobe to cooperate with TRA so that the officials could do their job without problems. “I am asking Bishop Kakobe to cooperate with our experts so that TRA could investigate the matter and leave no chances of doubt on his income,” said the TRA CG.

He added: “This is our job, we have skilled personnel and experts in this area; we are going to find out what is transpiring there, if it is all about offerings or any other business, we will find out.” The taxman said his office was expecting to send a team of experts any time from yesterday to Bishop Kakobe. “…our experts will visit him any time from now, TRA is at work day and night,” he noted.

Commenting on the religious institution’s involvement in economic activities, the TRA boss said any institution that wishes to engage in economic activities is required to register the business and undergo self-declaration of its businesses.

He said there are many institutions that are engaged in businesses and they all pay tax as required. He asked the public to comply with the law by paying tax so that they can contribute to the country’s economic growth.