City hospital in court as taxman demands Sh61m kept in five banks
The Nairobi Hospital is seeking to stop the taxman from taking Sh61 million from its accounts in five banks as tax for imported drugs for cancer patients.
The hospital argues that the government, through the Health ministry, had a memorandum of understanding with Norvatis Pharma AG allowing it to administer the drugs free of charge.
In documents filed at the High Court through the Kenya Hospital Association (KHA), the hospital says the ministry had written to the National Treasury several times, acknowledging the tax due to the authority. It has sued KRA and its commissioner for customs services.
The hospital said the Health PS wrote to KRA’s Commissioner-General on July 9, 2017, indicating that the ministry was working on settling the debt through the Treasury.
The taxman has sent notices to the Commercial Bank of Africa, Barclays, Standard Chartered, the National Industrial Credit Bank and the Kenya Commercial Bank directing them to pay a total of Sh 61,774,111 from the hospital’s accounts.