Didco Trading Limited officials are mum on the petition filed by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in the High Court to institute winding-up proceedings against the company, which the tax agency said failed to honour its financial obligations.
Attempt to contact senior company officials have been futile and a visit by Stabroek News to the company’s Ramp Road headquarters was also in vain as the reporter was told that no one was available to speak. On Wednesday, the GRA said in a statement that in November 2009 it took legal action against the mainly poultry business which failed to remit the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) deductions for various periods between 2007 and 2009 and judgment was subsequently granted in favour of the GRA, with the company being given an eight months-long stay of execution by the Court and another eight months by the GRA to liquidate the liability before levy proceedings were instituted.
The statement said that despite having been granted time by the Court and GRA to liquidate the outstanding liability, the Company failed to honour its financial obligations and this led to the GRA taking further action to pursue winding up.
The statement quoted the Head of GRA’s Legal Services Division, Hissaun Yasin-Nandlall, as saying “the failure of Didco Trading Company Ltd to honour its financial obligations has left the GRA with no other choice than to pursue Winding-Up proceedings.” She added in the statement that “apart from the PAYE liabilities, DIDCO has liabilities for Corporation Tax for the years 1993-2010; Property Tax for the years 2007-2011; and Value Added Tax (VAT) for the years 2007-2011 along with other PAYE debts which total in excess of $180 million.
The statement also said that GRA Commissioner-General Khurshid Sattaur maintains the position that the GRA will take legal action against defaulting tax payers to protect and recover the revenue of the State.
The petition has been filed by Ashton Chase, S.C. who acts for the GRA in association with Yasin-Nandlall, Mahendra Satram, Sunil Scarce and Marisa Mittleholzer.
Didco had had major plans for chicken production for the local and export market but encountered various problems, including a damaging fire several years ago. A large investment had been made in its chicken farm on the East Bank of Demerara.
Meantime, a fire on Thursday destroyed a generator on the company’s premises, employees confirmed. While they did not reveal many details, they confirmed that a fire had broken out at one of the generators and it was destroyed but apart from that there was no major damage to the building.
