A Rwandan accountant and two Indian businessmen are under police custody following an alleged attempt to defraud the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) of taxes worth Rwf70 million using an Electronic Billing Machine (EBM) belonging to a one Sulaiman George Bbale, a Uganda furniture dealer.

According to Robert Mugabe, the RRA Deputy Commissioner for the Revenue Investigation & Enforcement Department, accountant Abdallah Kalisa, is believed to have helped two Indian businessmen, only identified as Rajendra of Sabura Trading Company and Jignesh of SAI Service, to acquire fake receipts.

"The accountant sold EBM invoices to the traders who wanted to reduce on their out put VAT (Value Added Tax). Apparently the owner of the machine didn’t make those sales”.

The alleged fraudulent transaction was brought to the attention of the RRA by Bbale, the owner of Arrahmaan Furnitures under which the EBM is registered.

According to Bbale, Kalisa showed up at his shop as usual on December 1, at around 5pm, and asked to give him the EBM.

"I gave him the machine but my wife was suspicious; minutes later, Kalisa called me and told me it was too late to declare so I told him to bring back the machine. I immediately verified the sales data control and discovered that there were four receipts of iron bars that were printed; I deal in furniture, I don’t deal in iron bars so I decided to take the matter to Police and RRA for investigations,” said Baale.

Mugabe explained it was a common offense by traders to hike the VAT input cost as to claim a higher VAT refund.

Mugabe advised traders to keep track of their transactions and goods in stock so as to know what to declare. He also warned traders to work with trustworthy accountants.

"Always consult with tax advisors who have RRA badges”, he also advised.

If found guilty, the suspects could be liable to a jail term of six months to two years imprisonment on top of repaying all taxes owed.

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