NCBA Managing Director John Gachora dismissed claims that the bank enjoyed preferential treatment under President Uhuru Kenyatta, adding that the lender is ready to pay the Sh350 million tax waiver within a day if the court rules so.
The MD maintained that the waiver which has since been turned into a political agenda was above board and in accordance with the law.
"What I assure Kenyans is that should the court find that NCBA was not entitled to the waiver, the day the court makes that decision, the following day we will send a cheque of Sh350 million. That I can assure you," Gachora explained during an interview with KTN News.
Responding to allegations by a section of politicians that the lender has been evading taxes, Gachora clarified that NCBA is tax compliant.
"In the same year that we got the waiver for sh350 million, we paid a total taxes of sh4.4 billion, more than 10 times that people were talking about.
"NCBA is one of the biggest taxpayers in the country, having paid taxes amounting to Sh6.7 billion in 2021 and will fork out Sh14.3 billion in taxes for last year." Gachora stated.
NCBA found itself at the center of a renewed war by President William Ruto and his allies targeting former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his family.
The 2019 decision by the National Treasury to exempt the merged NCBA entity (Formed by the merger of NIC bank and CBA) from paying taxes amounting to Ksh 350 million has been revisited by the Kenya Kwanza brigade.
Kenya Kwanza politicians allege that the retired head of state used his position to push for the tax waiver during the merger.
The matter is currently in court after the waiver was challenged by Busia senator and activist Okiya Omtatah.
Omtata argued that Treasury Cabinet Secretary at the time, Henry Rotich did not have the power to arbitrarily grant the tax waiver.
"The taxpayer will suffer great loss estimated at Sh350 million in lost tax revenues that would otherwise accrue to the public coffers," read the court papers in part.
In recent days, the Kenya Kwanza administration has been on retired president Kenyatta’s case, accusing him of sponsoring the Azimio brigade in a series of rallies to avoid paying taxes.