Sattaur flays Hughes over attacks on GRA’s integrity

TIMES INT'L

Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur has taken umbrage over statements by Attorney Nigel Hughes that his business was being singled out for ‘special’ treatment by the revenue body.
Hughes was responding to a Guyana Chronicle article last Thursday captioned “Another AFC leader linked to questionable ethical behaviour… Nigel Hughes implicated in Harvest Company Ltd’s financial irregularities”.

Attorney Nigel Hughes

Hughes said the article comes as no surprise, noting that the commissioner general has once again exposed his lack of independence and “overt enthusiasm to do his master’s bidding”.
He noted that the issue with Harvest Company Limited is not the non-payment of PAYE as alleged, but the imposition of interest and penalties by the commissioner general of the Guyana Revenue Authority on Harvest on the capital sums of Gy$ 468,000.00 and Gy$ 2,337,110.00, while he waived interest and penalties for sums in excess of Gy$ 70 million for a company, the proprietors who are not known to be unsympathetic to the government of the day. Hughes said that on June 22, the company’s attorneys wrote to GRA Legal Officer Mahendra Satra, inquiring whether GRA’s actions of attempting to levy on his chambers were driven by political considerations.
Meanwhile, in response, Sattaur said Hughes was engaging in a publicity stunt, noting that the company has defaulted in remitting workers VAT and PAYE. He vowed that the GRA will not be intimidated by anyone as it seeks to carry out its lawful duties.
Noting that the GRA was a fully professional body, Sattaur flayed Hughes for accusing the entity of being politically-motivated in seeking to redeem the taxes his company defaulted on. The GRA had obtained two judgments against Harvest Company Ltd for failure to remit PAYE and one judgment under Section 44 of the Value Added Tax Act, Number 10 of 2005.

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