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Crime Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) has identified 433 vehicles suspected to have been smuggled into the country and has invited their respective owners to the taxman’s offices for a verification exercise.

Top-of-the range vehicles that include, Toyota Landcruisers, BMWs, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Toyota Hilux, Toyota Lexus, Mercedes Benz, Toyota Fortuner, Range Rovers, Isuzu, Landrover Discovery, Ford Ranger and Audi are dominating the hit list.

Others are, Nissan X trail, Honda Fit, Toyota Runx, VW, Honda Airwave, Volvo, Toyota Allion and trailers.

ZIMRA launched the operation after discovering that several vehicles were being smuggled into the country without proper documentation.

In a statement, Zimra invited the owners to its loss control offices for a verification exercise.

“The Commissioner-General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority is hereby notifying owners of the listed vehicles to visit Zimra Loss Control Offices at ZB Centre corner First Street and Kwame Nkrumah in Harare for vehicle registration verification.

“The vehicle owners are instructed to bring the vehicle together with all customs clearance documents pertaining to their vehicles not later than 23 November 2019,” reads part of the statement.

In an interview, Zimra head of corporate communications Mr Francis Chimanda said some information relating to the listed vehicles was missing in the vehicle database, calling for verification of the papers.

“There is missing information regarding the vehicles clearance and the verification process will bridge the gap,” he said.

He said those who fraudulently registered the vehicle will be dealt with in terms of the law.

“Customs laws and any other relevant legislation will be invoked and the necessary steps will be taken, subject to the findings of the exercise,” Mr Chimanda said.

The authority will soon release the numbers of motorists who would have complied. Of the 433 vehicles, 205 of them are registered while the rest are not.

The latest developments come after last month, several Zimra officials were implicated in cases of corruption amid reports that the taxman was seeking to recover ill-gotten wealth to the tune $73,5 million from its employees.

Zimra was investigating 389 corruption cases involving its workers and several of them were exposed by a lifestyle audit carried out recently.