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Fidelis Munyoro Chief Court Reporter
The Supreme Court yesterday ruled that Dr Munyaradzi Kereke’s RMC Hospital appeal against the High Court decision forcing it to pay Zimbabwe Revenue Authority US$4 million in unpaid taxes for the last three years should be heard on an urgent basis.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku granted Dr Kereke the relief he sought for urgent disposition of the matter and set the hearing for March 27.
The High Court last month ordered Dr Kereke, who is also National Assembly member for Bikita West, to pay Zimra close to US$4 million in unpaid taxes, which the tax collector has since slashed to US$1,7 million.
Although Zimra had reduced the tax arrears, Dr Kereke insists in his appeal that the assessments made for the past three years were faulty and fictitious.
He wants the lower court’s decision, which upheld Zimra’s imposition of garnishee orders on RMC hospital’s debtors — Cimas, Premier Service Medical Aid Society and Stanbic Bank — to collect tax liabilities due to it quashed.
Chief Justice Chidyausiku ruled that Dr Kereke had made out a case for urgent hearing of the appeal.
The judge agreed with Dr Kereke’s argument that his hospital would suffer irreparable harm should the garnishes remain in place before the determination of the appeal and allowed his appeal for urgency and that his hospital was under threat of sinking into liquidation if the matter was not treated as urgent.
Dr Kereke stated in his application for urgent hearing that garnishes to the RMC’s major debtors were taking up all the hospital revenues, crippling operations. In his main appeal, Dr Kereke says his prospects of success on appeal are very high given the misdirection of the lower court.
He argues that the lower court misdirected itself in failing to uphold that the relief RMC sought was interim pending determination of its objection to the Commissioner-General of Taxes’ decision to issue garnishee orders.
In dismissing Dr Kereke’s application, the High Court ruled that Zimra’s conduct was above board and that the legislator should not be treated differently from other taxpayers and must comply with the law.
Later, Zimra slashed RMC Hospital’s tax bill from the original US$4 million to US$1,7 million after Dr Kereke submitted information required for the assessment of taxes for the disputed period. Also reversed were taxes that had been allegedly lumped on Dr Kereke’s Mt Pleasant house that had been invested into the hospital project and income of doctors which had been wrongly taxed. Zimra also reversed taxes on RMC Hospital’s bank loans which it had taken as taxable revenue.
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