Thursday, March 28

Ginimbi Fined $36 000 For His Tax Evasion Case

Ginimbi’s gas company, Piko Trading, was fined $36 000 and ordered to pay $2 512 149,80 that it owes the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority ZIMRA in taxes after it failed to pay Value Added Tax (VAT) between February 2009 and May 2016.

Ginimbi real name Genius Kadungure, appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mr Crispen Mberewere yesterday.

Magistrate Mberewere also fined Piko Trading, which was represented by Kadungure, $9 000, and ordered it to pay $355 559 in outstanding company taxes that it failed to pay after recording sales amounting to $24 187 026.

Ginimbi’s company was ordered to settle the amounts by August 31, 2020 and to pay the fines immediately

Piko Trading pled guilty to two offences. Ginimbi waa acquitted of failing to declare income returns to ZIMRA whilst his company was not found guilty of smuggling gas into the country.

In his judgment, Magistrate Mberewere said he was not impressed by the State’s investigations into allegations that Piko Trading smuggled 5 289kg of liquefied petroleum gas into the country between January 2015 and March 2016 

Magistrate Mberewere said the Act governing the importation and sale of gas was very clear and the court would have been saved time over the issue.

‌Mberewere said: 

I am baffled by the level of investigations and if the investigating officer was competent enough, he would have checked the Act. A mere check of the Act would have saved time.

.Mberewere also said Kadungure had shown just cause why he failed to declare the income returns to ZIMRA when he said he was living outside the country and thought he was not obliged to pay the tax. 

The State alleged that Ginimbi’s company Piko Trading smuggled about 5 289kg of liquefied petroleum gas into the country, and did not pay $672 533 in taxes.

Further, the State had alleged that Ginimbi in his personal capacity failed to submit documents about his income to the Commissioner of Taxes from January 2010 to December 2015 as required by the Income Tax Act, giving rise to the charge of failing to pay $119 860,93.

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