A former minister for Telecommunications gave a foreign mobile operator a ten-year tax free operation period.
National Finance Ministry is requesting Vivacell to pay 57 million pounds for accumulated excise duty taxes but the company is refusing to pay because of a deal it stroke in 2007 with Gier Chuang Aluong the then Telecommunications Minister exempting it of taxes for a period of ten years.Director of General Taxation at the National Finance Ministry, Ayom Mach Jok, told CRN today that Vivacell has refused to pay the 57 million pounds saying Chapter Seven of the agreement it signed with the minister exempts the operator from taxes until 2017.
He said the Ministry of Finance was not aware of the deal inked between Vivacell and minister Chuang.
Mr Mach added that Vivacell said several times that it would pay the money when the ministry threaten to take them to the court, but recently the company sent its legal adviser refusing to pay.
He explained that the ministry has formed a board of appeal that will decide either Vivacell pays or not.
By law, all mobile operators in South Sudan have to pay every month excise duty taxes over the airtime they sell and other transactions.
The Finance Ministry increased the excise duty taxes from five to ten percent following the austerity measures issued by the Government.