Jin Ming Wu, a Chinese national and the owner of Prosperous Hardware Incorporated, has changed his plea to not guilty on charges of tax evasion related to his company, after initially pleading guilty.
The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has charged Wu with failing to submit individual income tax returns from 2022 to 2024 and ordered him to pay more than $10 million in taxes, a figure Wu says is inaccurate.
Wu, who resides at Lot 110 Regent Street, Georgetown, originally pled guilty to four charges in his initial appearance before Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court. These included one charge on behalf of his company and three personal charges related to tax filings.
However, on Wednesday, Wu altered his plea to not guilty for the company-related charge after the GRA prosecutor stated that the penalty was calculated at 10 per cent of the tax assessment, amounting to over $10 million.
Defence attorney, Sasha King, contested the accuracy of the tax figure, urging the GRA prosecutor to reassess the amount. For the remaining three personal charges, Wu accepted responsibility and agreed to pay $1.4 to the GRA within 21 days, maintaining his guilty plea on those counts. A two-week adjournment was requested to allow GRA to calculate the total amount due for each year.
