Sometime in August, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) closed down offices and a shop of socialite Zarie Hussein located at the Garden City shopping mall.
It was reported that the tax body was demanding Zari taxes amounting to Sh100m. Zari’s shops dealt in high end men’s clothing as well as expensive jewellery.
Known for her luxurious lifestyle, Zari, who spends most of her time in South Africa, then accepted the debt and publicly promised to sort out the URA bills as she posted on her Facebook wall: “It is true I owe money to URA… yesterday, URA closed my shops but as a good citizen it is my responsibility to pay the taxes. Anytime, I will come and pay the money.”
She came to an understanding with URA and her shops were re-opened. A few months down the road, Zari seems to have had a change of mind and decided to close one of the shops.
A source told us that she had paid part of the debt but she also realised it makes more business sense to have just one shop.
Zari was in the country last week to oversee the exercise. We are yet to find out what effect this has on the debts she still has with URA.
