Tax evasion charges against Publisher of the Kaieteur News Glenn Lall and his wife Bhena Lall, and remigrant couple Narootandeo and Gharbassi Brijnanan were dismissed yesterday based on an application by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), which said it agreed to compensation to discontinue the proceedings.
“After some discussions, we were agreeable with the proposal put before us, as we are more inclined to amicable resolutions rather than litigious ones. Notwithstanding, we are prepared to go the distance to protect tax revenues,” GRA Commis-sioner-General Khurshid Sattaur was quoted as saying in a subsequent statement on the withdrawal of the charges.
The statement, while referring to a report in yesterday’s edition of the Guyana Times, said “too much media publicity” in tax matters, which require some degree of confidentiality, “can negatively impact such cases, and force persons to resolve matters out of court by way of compensation,” when they are found to be in breach of the Act or related regulations.
It was alleged that they knowingly aided and abetted each other in the fraudulent evasion of the import duties of customs due and payable on two Lexus vehicles that were imported by the Brijnanans and used by the Lalls.
Magistrate Judy Latchman dismissed the charges yesterday morning when the case was called at the Georgetown Magis-trates’ Courts albeit in the absence of the defendants.
“In such circumstances, I bring this case to an end,” she said after the application was formally made by GRA attorney Sandil Kissoon for the withdrawal of the charges.
On Wednesday, Kissoon had attempted to withdraw the charges, while noting that a resolution has been reached. However, Magistrate Latchman stated that after considering the application and the level of publicity which the matters have attracted, it was in the public’s interest that the case should be called and dealt with on the date originally set by the court, which was yesterday.
At a hearing on January 8, Kissoon mentioned to the court that both sides were in talks for an amicable resolution of the matter.
Both defending parties had denied the charges and were all admitted to self-bail after being jointly arraigned. The Brijnanans were arraigned on a total of four charges, two of which they share with the Lalls.
The Brijnanans were charged with two counts of “knowingly being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of import duties of Customs” and two counts for “making false declarations.”
It was alleged that the first two offences were jointly committed by the Lalls with the Brijnanans and others unknown between June 18, 2013 and September 21, 2013, at Lot 200-201 Camp Street, Georgetown, when they aided and abetted each other in the fraudulent evasion of the import duties of customs due and payable on the two vehicles.
The second two charges laid against the Brijnanans stated that between June 18 and September 20, 2013, at Lot 200-201 Camp Street, they made a false declaration in a matter relating to customs, by falsely declaring the value of two Lexus LX 570 vehicles to be US$44,158.
The Lalls were further charged with intent to defraud the revenue of duties on two vehicles. It was alleged that between June 18, 2013, and August 30 of 2014, at 24 Saffon Street, Georgetown, they knowingly dealt with goods, with intent to defraud the revenue of duties on the two vehicles.
Glenn Lall has maintained that the charges are an attempt by GRA to persecute him and his newspaper as a result of its exposures of government’s corruption.
In its statement, the GRA said that the Authority agreed to accept compensation in lieu of or in substitution for proceedings in a court of summary jurisdiction, in keeping with the provision of Section 36 and 271 of the Customs Act.
Sattaur said tax offenders have the option to settle matters out of court, which is provided for in law to avoid severe penalty which could include imprisonment.
He also noted that the GRA seeks to promote voluntary compliance to ward off enforcement action. “Even when enforcement action becomes necessary, the Authority seeks an approach that lends to achieving efficiency and certainty in the tax dispute resolution process. In this case, like others, we have chosen the traditional method of alternative dispute resolution which is less costly, less time consuming and is not resource depleting,” he added.
According to Sattaur, the current laws are not strict to allow for prosecution as weaknesses developed because the remigrant scheme is governed more by policy rather than law. He said recommendations were sent to the policy makers to have certain sets of laws amended in order to strengthen the conditions to be satisfied before and after remigrant status is granted.
He added that pending similar matters will be dealt with by the GRA in the accordance with the law.
The defendants were represented by Khemraj Ramjattan in association with Robin Hunte, Rex McKay, Nigel Hughes, Joseph Harmon and Christopher Ram.
GRA attorney Kissoon appeared in association with attorney Mahendra Satram.
