Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Khan has refused to comment on a recent audit into the operations of the hospital that has recommended that he be sanctioned for allegedly cheating the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) of over $1.4 million in income tax.
A special investigation into financial operations and functioning of the GPHC over the period January, 2012 to May, 2015, conducted by the accounting firm Ram and McRae, found that Khan received a responsibility allowance from January, 2011 to September, 2014 and that it was paid without the deduction of taxes, in contravention of the Income Tax Act.
According to the report on the audit’s findings, Khan instructed the hospital’s Director of Financial and General Services to pay him the allowance tax free. This directive, according to the report, is both “a serious breach of the law and an abuse of his authority, warranting some sanction by the Board of Corporation,” since “Khan must have been aware that the Board made no decision on the tax implications of the payment to him of a responsibility allowance, that the payment by law is subject to pay As You Earn (PAYE), and that the tax is deducted from responsibility allowances paid to other members of staff of the corporation.”