Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), Impounds Smuggled Vehicles

THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has impounded hundreds of vehicles in a blitz to flush out cars that have been smuggled into the country.

The blitz followed an announcement by Zimra commissioner-general Gershem Pasi that many vehicles were being corruptly brought into the country, evading tax in the process.

Zimra board secretary and director legal and corporate services, Florence Jambwa told Standardbusiness last week that many vehicles had been impounded and offenders penalised.

“Several motor vehicles were and are still being impounded and the offenders are penalised in accordance with the laws of the land. I am, however, unable to give you statistics as this is an ongoing exercise,” she said.
Jambwa said the underhand dealings meant that the smuggled vehicles did not pass through the system and therefore it was difficult to calculate how much revenue had been lost through these malpractices.

She, however, said Zimra had since put in place measures to curb smuggling, which included roadblocks, border patrols, physical examinations, goods scanning and post clearance checks audits, among other initiatives.

According to Zimra, 24 967 private vehicles had been imported into the country in the period between January and June 2015, as compared to 29 978 in the same period last year.

In the period under review, 10 289 commercial vehicles have been imported as compared to 8 597 in 2014.Source: Standardbusiness