By Davis Mugabi

The Anti-Corruption Court has sent four Indian businessmen to prison for VAT Fraud that caused a tax loss of Shs 2.1 Billion.

The prosecution alleges that Rajesh Rabadiya, Bhudiya Devshi Jadva, Suresh Bhudiya, and Jinal Patel (The Lead Schemer) committed the crimes at two of their companies: Hariom Tools & Equipment Ltd. and Hariom Establishments Ltd.

Through their companies, the prosecution says they filed false VAT monthly returns to the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) purporting to have sold/supplied goods to companies, whereas they did not.

Until his arrest, Jinal Patel, as the leader of the tax fraud scheme, would buy invoices from dealers of construction materials and sell them to mainly construction companies.

His commission was 1%–4% for the buyers of invoices and 0.5%–1.5% for the sellers.