Did ABM evade tax?
An accounting firm says ABM - involved in an extended investigation by corruption watchdog and taxman - might have been guilty of tax evasion amounting to P3.8 million in 2009 and should resolve the matter urgently.
Co-owned by minister of transport and communications Nonofho Molefhi and his wife, Daisy Molefhi, ABM is embroiled in damning allegations of tax evasion and
enrolling students that exceed the approved annual quota. According to the institution’s audited financial results for the year ended December 2009, “ABM tax liability stood at P5.3 million,” Mmemme certified accounting firm concluded in its scathing due diligence report, which Botswana Guardian has a copy. It was only after the corruption buster - Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) begun investigating the institution that ABM started making payments towards its tax liability.
The highly confidential report indicates that the institution managed to pay a total of P1.6 million in 2009. “This would now put the liability at an estimated P3.8 million. This is the amount they are communicating with BURS – Botswana Unified Revenue Services about,” said Tumi Mbaakanyi, managing director of Mmemme in her report to the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency. CEDA had contracted Mmemme to assess ABM financial and compliance record when the private institution applied for a P15 million loan. The accounting firm advised ABM to settle its tax liabilities because minister Molefhi is a “high profile individual and a politician.”
“Tax liability should be given urgent attention because it greatly affects the institution’s going concern,” the report reads in part. Both Mmemme and ABM could not discuss issues relating to tax compliance. Mbaakanyi referred Botswana Guardian to CEDA. BURS lamented ABM poor tax record in an internal memo seen by Botswana Guardian. “The returns of income tax from tax year 1999 to 2008 have been filed in the months of April and May 2009,” said tax advisor Neena Nigam, suggesting indirectly that ABM has not been paying income tax for a period of nine years. BURS chief executive officer, Ken Morris referred questions to his public relations office.
