Ex-Kenyan Minister Arrested in Uganda for Gold Scam

The Anti-corruption court presided over by Her Worship Esther Asiimwe remanded Stephen Tarus Kipkyen, a former Kenyan assistant minister for Internal Security, to Luzira prison for falsification of export documents and causing revenue loss to the Government of Uganda.

Kipkyeny, who is also a former member of Parliament in Kenya, was remanded until January 18. According to Stuart Ahebwa, URA‘s prosecutor, Kipkyeny was charged with forgery of export documents for 13kgs of gold valued at US$30,000 (about Shs113,646,810).

According to URA, the gold was destined for Dubai where one of the suspect‘s clients, Kostbar International is based. Kostbar is a company that designs and manufactures jewelry exclusively for trade. Ahebwa also added that there is a big team behind this tax evasion scheme and so far only one person has been netted. “It is a group and now we have only one person. The issue of them forging documents that they are working with URA also makes matters worse and it is also the reason we have arraigned Kipkyenyi in court,” Ahebwa added.

Meanwhile, according to the East African Community Customs Management Act (EACCMA), a person who makes or uses false documents upon conviction shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding $10,000. This means that once Kipkyenyi is found guilty, he will be liable to these terms.

In URA, smuggling and fraud remain the top customs offenses. For example, last year alone, URA recovered Shs132.77 billion through country-wide enforcement operations while Shs130.50 billion was recovered through court arbitration and Shs174.64 billion through Tax Investigations interventions.

Stephen Tarus Kipkyeny served under President Mwai Kibaki’s administration as the Assistant Minister of Internal Security and as Kenya’s High Commissioner to Australia from 2009 to 2012. Before his appointments under the Kibaki regime, the suspect had served as the Member of Parliament for Emgwen Constituency between 2003 and 2007.