MRA confiscates 4 newly-launched coaches
The Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) on Thursday confiscated all four coaches a local company launched in the country with pomp and colour a couple of weeks ago, claiming that the owner presented falsified bank documents during clearance.
Trading under Kwezy Coaches, the company launched its services last week at Kamuzu Upper Stadium in Blantyre with pomp, at a function Blantyre City mayor Wild Ndipo graced, and the coaches started operating between Blantyre and Lilongwe.
MRA, in a press statement issued yesterday by Head of Corporate Affairs Steve Kapoloma, who is the organisation’s spokesperson, said two coaches were being kept by MRA in Blantyre while the other two were in MRA custody in Lilongwe.
MRA claimed that the owner, Benson Vitsitsi of Blantyre, is suspected to have presented false or falsified documents during clearance of the coaches, contrary to provisions of the Customs and Excise Act.
The statement reads: “Bank documents presented to MRA by Mr Vitsitsi, purportedly being remittance documents to the supplier of the buses in China, are allegedly to have been false or falsified.”
Kapoloma, who did not disclose the amount of money at stake, said MRA was conducting further verifications regarding the allegation.
Efforts to talk to Vitsitsi yesterday proved futile as he could not pick up his phone on several attempts.
During the launch, Vitsitsi told journalists that his company wanted to revolutionalise the local transport sector, disclosing that the new coaches have Wi-fi, which would help passengers to stay connected on the Internet in transit.
The coaches, he disclosed, also have USB ports for passengers’ to recharge their mobile phones on board.
