Following a press release by the Guyana Revenue Authority saying that Gizmos and Gadgets and its subsidiaries were suspected of widespread evasion of the payment of VAT and other taxes, the enterprise said in a news release yesterday, “We reject the vicious implications of criminality made by the GRA when they have yet to inform the business of any criminal activity.”
“Gizmos and Gadgets and all their related businesses categorically reject these malicious and slanderous statements emanating from the Guyana Revenue Autho-rity,” the enterprise stated.
It said further that it had read the GRA release “with considerable disappointment,” and noted that GRA had audited one of the group’s businesses earlier this year and “approved of the entity’s operations.”
Gizmos said it was most unfortunate that the GRA officers who visited the business on Monday informed them that they were conducting a full audit while “surreptitiously issuing (a) public statement accusing our business of criminal activity.”
“It is clear that the intention of the GRA is to maliciously damage our business before the conclusion of any investigation,” Gizmos & Gadgets asserted.
Meanwhile, the enterprise expressed the hope that the GRA would afford it the “opportunity of addressing any concerns they may have before causing irreparable damage to our reputation by the release of false and inaccurate statements to the public.”
Officials of the GRA along with police on Monday swooped on Gizmos & Gadgets and its subsidiaries, seizing company records on the suspicion that it has been evading taxes.
In a press statement, the GRA stated that the businesses are believed to be engaged in the practice of maintaining “dual books,” a corrupt process to evade the payment of Value Added Tax (VAT) and other taxes.
The GRA said officers went to Gizmos & Gadgets, Auto Zone, Wireless Rush and Excel, all owned by the same person, as information, including source documents was provided by “reliable sources,” implicating the businesses to be guilty of widespread evasion of the payment of VAT and other taxes.
The release said Commissioner-General of the GRA Khurshid Sattaur gave approval for the covert operation, which was spearheaded by the GRA’s Enforcement Division. The GRA officials were accompanied by police officers.
In the GRA release it was pointed out that the law gives the GRA the power to enter the premises of a business which is believed to be involved in fraudulent practices and to take possession of computers and business records.
The operation is to continue as a number of other businesses will be targeted as the GRA is bent on “eradicating this unethical and criminal practice and bringing the perpetrators to justice.”
