921 people incriminated in tax refund scam – 50 criminal cases lodged
Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) announced this week that a total of 921 taxpayers have been implicated in a fraudulent refund scam that surfaced in March 2022.
Following further investigations the number of those implicated has increased from 409 as reported in July 2022, NamRa spokesperson, Steven Ndorokaze said in an update statement.
NamRa last year halted the processing of tax refund claims for individual provisional taxpayers amid the scam.
“These taxpayers are employees of 56 institutions ranging from private companies, government offices, ministries and agencies, and public institutions,” he said.
According to Ndorokaze, the total refund under consideration is more than N$136 million, up from the last indicated amount of N$36 million.
“Thus far, N$7.8 million has been recovered through various efforts. In line with the recovery process, 128 demand letters were issued to the implicated taxpayers. Fourteen institutions have been appointed as agents to collect on behalf of NamRA,” he said.
To date, 50 criminal cases have been lodged with the Namibian Police and further action/s will follow as determined by NAMPOL, as the investigations continue, he concluded.
