The annual report of Yemen Mobile for the fiscal year 2021, of which Regain Yemen obtained a copy, shows the summary of the company’s activity for the years 2017 to 2021, the total value of the money that the company paid to the Houthi militia that controls the Tax Authority and the Zakat Duties Authority (the General Authority for Zakat, which was established by the Houthis in violation of the constitution and applicable laws).
The summary of the report shows the expenses of taxes and zakat in separate items. While sales tax expenses appear in the total operating expenses. As shown in table(1):
For calculating the value of the sales tax, 5% of the company’s revenues amounting to YR186,679,050,000 are calculated, so that the value of the sales tax becomes YR9,333,952,950.
Yemen Mobile also paid an annual license fees to the Houthi authorities in Sana'a, an amount of YR9,954,145,000 as license fees according to the list of operating expenses annexed in the final account tables and the company's financial statements in the fiscal year 2021. As shown in table(2):
In the light of the above, it is clear that the total amount of money obtained by the Houthis for the fiscal year 2021 through legal texts, is an amount of YR52,385,889,950.
Broken down as follows:
Zakat: YR6 billion
Commercial and industrial profits tax: 27 billion
Sales tax: 9 billion; and
Licensing fees for the Ministry of Finance: 9 billion.
The Houthis obtain from the Yemen Mobile company huge revenues by inflating the expenses collected by the militia and under special directives from the company’s board of directors appointed by the company’s militia, as follows:
Financial and banking services expenses: YR14,807,045,000
Foreign exchange rate differences expenses: 16,742,055,000
The total: YR31,549,100,000
It is clear from the table below that expenditures are inflated and seized through banking agencies and money changers.
