Harare, February 16, 2012 - Some Chinese companies operating in the country indigenous business people are evading tax, a Zimbabwe Revenue Authority senior official has divulged.

“One of the challenges we face in tax collection is in us. There are also our friends from the east who are investing in this country ...but if you ask for tax, their Ambassadors of say China will come to our offices saying you are harassing our people and it’s unfortunate. That is the culture which we want to eliminate now that we are going to indigenous with us taking 51% of business ownership,”ZIMRA Chief Investigations Officer Siyathaba Muremba told a mining meeting organised by civil society in Harare Wednesday.

Under the look East Policy, put in place as a counter to Western sanctions imposed on senior Zanu (PF) party members a decade ago, thousands of Chinese nationals have invested in the country.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti recently directed the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) to enforce tax laws and ad hoc tax remittance measures, including seizing the assets of tax evaders and auctioning them to recover lost revenue.


He did this through revising the Finance Bill and added a clause providing for the seizure and auctioning of the assets of tax offenders.