On Tuesday Former Kyadondo East municipality MP and former presidential candidate, Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine finally received his armored car from Uganda Revenue Authority- URA.

Bobi Wine
Bobi Wine

The said car, a Toyota V8 Land Cruiser bullet proof had been recalled by the Revenue body for re-assessment and re-evaluation earlier in March this year.

After the thorough re-evaluation process by URA officers, Bobi Wine was asked to cough UGX 337M in taxes for it.

The communication to Bobi Wine followed the conclusion of the reassessment process of his ride, which had initially attracted less tax having been considered as an ordinary car.

Bobi's car after release from URA
Bobi’s car after release from URA

“Customs has re-evalued the motor vehicle using alternative methods of valuation and appraised a customs value of $166,700 with tax payable of Shs337,698,776m. Please advise your client (Bobi) to liaise with the office of the Assistant Commissioner Enforcement who by copy hereof, is requested to facilitate payment of due taxes and release of your client’s vehicle accordingly,” Mr Kagumire’s letter read.

But on Tuesday 8/6/ 2021, URA vomited the car back to the owner following Sevo’s intervention. According to from the Revenue body to NUP darling, Sevo ordered them to release the Big Black Toy immediately without clearing the Tax dues.

I have been directed by the president to return Kyagulanyi’s vehicle UBJ 667F even though he hasn’t yet paid the 249M that is due”. the letter from URA partly reads.

URA's letter to Bobi Wine
URA’s letter to Bobi Wine

However upon receiving his much treasured car, Bobi vowed never to use it before it is re-examined by his trusted team and declared ‘safe’.

According to him, the car might have been tampered with to claim his dear life.

“..i cannot say that the car is safe and am not going to use it or sit in it not until it is assessed thoroughly by my specialized mechanic from abroad because i cant tell whether they tampered with it and i don’t know why it was taken in the first place”, Bobi told reporters in a presser before taking to his Facebook page to rant.

“Yesterday, I received a phone call from one of our lawyers Anthony Wameli who informed me that he had received a call from a Commissioner at URA requesting us to pick the bulletproof vehicle which was impounded by URA more than two months ago. Like we repeatedly said to the nation, there was no legal basis whatsoever for URA to impound the vehicle in the first place! This is a car which was fully inspected by URA, Interpol and the police forensics department before the tax was assessed and levied. We accordingly paid the tax in full, and a Ugandan number plate was issued. The story changed when it was discovered that the car belonged to me. URA immediately moved to impound the vehicle claiming that their initial assessment had been wrong. They would then impose a new exorbitant tax of 337 million shillings! These past weeks, our legal team embarked on the process of challenging the tax before the Tax Appeals Tribunal, but before then we were required to apply for revaluation of the tax before the Commissioner in charge of customs. It was therefore shocking for me to receive this letter accompanying the vehicle this morning, with a claim that the car was being released on Gen. Museveni’s orders, while at the same time stipulating that I am still required to pay the tax.”, his post in regard to the car partly reads.