Bidco has no court order against Uganda Revenue Authority

By Patience T. Rubagumya
Posted 


Monday, February 1 

2016 at 

02:00

Our attention has been drawn to a Daily Monitor story titled, “Bidco sues URA over high taxes” published on January 28.
It should be noted that any person aggrieved by a taxation decision by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), is free to challenge it in a competent judicial forum established by the Constitution of Uganda, and other enabling laws of the land. However, a person who submits to the jurisdiction of court should ordinarily be cognizant of the requirement to respect the rule that prohibits discussing merits of the dispute. Parties to a dispute are obliged to allow court to fairly hear and determine the dispute, without harboring any prejudices.

The story seemed to infer that URA is in contempt of a court order, which is not true. Bidco has not obtained a court order against URA, in any suit in which it is a party. It is true that some rice importers filed a similar case in court. The case awaits judgment. In that particular case, a conditional interim relief was granted by court, pending the final verdict. Bidco is not a party to that dispute, and cannot ostensibly claim benefit of a court order issued in a suit in which it is not a party.
URA strives to uphold the rule of law and is responsive to any court order competently issued against it.
Patience T. Rubagumya,
Commissioner legal services and board affairs, URA