admin
Herald Reporter
A FRENCH owned international news agency, the Agence-France Presse (AFP) has been penalised for tax evasion by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), The Herald has established.
Sources at ZIMRA confirmed that the AFP breached Customs Duty and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax heads.
The AFP is partly owned by the French government.
The agency breached PAYE tax head by paying their Harare based journalists part salaries in South Africa depriving ZIMRA of revenue.
On Customs Duty tax head, the AFP was penalised for importing computers and cameras without paying duty and prejudiced the Government of revenue.
It was established that the AFP allegedly abused the diplomatic bag at the French embassy to bring equipment without paying duty.
“It is true that AFP was penalised for tax evasion,” said a source at ZIMRA who spoke to The Herald on condition of anonymity.
“The AFP paid the penalty for evading tax.”
The breaches by the AFP occurred from 2009 until 2015. But the news organisation was only penalised for the two years — 2014 and 2015.
AFP was raided by ZIMRA authorities last year where it was established the agency has been engaging in tax evasion activities.
The French news agency is one of the top four news agencies of the world that include Reuters, Associated Press and Bloomberg. It is based in Paris, France and operates in 151 countries across the world.
AFP chief executive and chairman, Fabrice Fries and his management in Paris and the French Embassy in Harare did not respond to queries from The Herald.
Online Reporter