Popstar Diamond Platnumz says he enjoys flamboyance, but the act of taxmen storming into his office was discouraging and aimed at creating a wedge between him and the state.
Teen dreamboat, Nassib Abdul, popularly known as Diamond Platinumz seems to have a bone to pick with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).
According to Diamond, the TRA officers stormed into his Wasafi offices menacingly as if he was a tax evader, while as as he is concerned has been keeping his revenues records open, transparent and quite up to date.
“I have nothing to hide, I am rich, yes and enjoy flaunting my wealth around,” insists Diamond, who is currently in the charts with a song known as ‘Chitaki!’ one of his numbers that usually excite his mostly teen fan base.
But the Wasafi frontman is not happy with the Tanzania Revenue Authority, whose officers he alleges to be trying to downplay his patriotism by invading the offices as if they were hunting down a criminal.
“If there were any problems concerning my company’s revenue status, why didn’t the TRA manager call me or my manager?” he asks, arguing that he has always complied with the taxman demands.
According to Diamond, he enjoys flamboyance, that is why he keeps a fleet of extra-luxury expensive cars, that he pays billions in taxes in order to import them.
“And the Wasafi entity has been keeping up to date with taxes payments, mind you the company has expanded beyond just music production, for instance we now have casino betting and other affiliate activities all generating revenues and contributing to national coffers,” Diamond maintains.
In response to Diamond’s complaints, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) has just issued a statement saying they were already addressing the singer’s concerns.
“But because the TRA never discloses its clients’ secrets, we chose to keep the matters from the general public and deal with the misunderstandings behind closed doors,” says the statement from Tanzania Revenue Authority.