Multi-million$$ taxi bill probe opens can of worms… Car owners dispute figures, fear visit from the taxman

Dec 05, 2012 News

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The focus of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the whopping taxi bill incurred by the Ministry of Tourism has opened a can of worms, with taxi service operators named in the Auditor General’s Report denying receiving the exorbitant amounts stated.
They have all indicated that they will welcome an investigation since they are certain that the amounts they have received for their services to the Ministry have been grossly overstated.
But an official at the Ministry is maintaining that the audited figures presented are reflective of the correct amounts paid to the various services contracted.
The Auditor General’s report stated that the Ministry spent in excess of $34M on transportation activities over a three-year period.
According to figures from the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, in 2009, R and T Taxi Service received $7,471,000; Green Ice received $752,000 and Courtesy Transport received $5,538,000; a total of $13,761,000 to transport Ministry staffers for supposed work-related purposes.
In 2010, Indian Chief Taxi Service received $144,000, R and T Taxi Service received $7,153,000 and Green Ice was paid $2,750,000; a total of $10,047,000 to again transport Ministry staff for work-related matters.
Last year, for transporting purposes, Indian Chief received $5,089,000 from the Tourism Ministry; R and T Taxi Service received $3,046,000 and Green Ice received $2,979,000.
The publication of these figures solicited some concerned responses from the operators who are fearful that they will lead to undue charges from the Guyana Revenue Authority.
This newspaper received a telephone call from one of the taxi service operators and this led to contact being made with the others who were named in the report.
While they did not wish to be identified with the claims they made to this newspaper for fear of losing their contracts, they were all unified that the figures stated did not match what they actually received.
One operator told this newspaper that his service has not even received one-tenth of the amount stated by the Ministry.
“That amount of money is grossly overstated. Our service is not even being used by the ministry. They need to investigate this,” the taxi service owner told Kaieteur News.
“We have signed for every cheque because we submit invoices,” he added.
Another service owner suggested that the Ministry’s figures are all mixed up since in one instance he received more than the stated amount while in the other, he claimed that the amount is exaggerated.
“I want to know where they get this figure from. I coulda be a rich man if I de getting that money,” another businessman declared.
Yet another taxi service owner stated that the Ministry had stopped using his service for awhile.
He said that he was surprised when he read an article in yesterday’s Kaieteur News, which highlighted the grilling of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce by the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly.
“I am surprised at these figures. They didn’t use us for most of last year. When I read the article, I checked my records for January and February last year and I found only $60, 000,” the owner of a popular Georgetown taxi service stated.
“If Khurshid (Sattaur) come to me, the ministry will have to say where they get this figure from; this is hurting business,” he added.
The Manager of another service used by the Ministry informed Kaieteur News that he pays his drivers by cheque and he has “everything to prove” the amount he has been receiving.
He said that his service has severed relationship with the ministry early last year due to the irregular payments, which caused great frustration among his employees.
“They always got a problem with payment. If is not budget this and budget that, is something else,” he lamented.
But a source within the ministry is convinced that the service operators are not being truthful in their claims, “maybe out of fear that the taxman will visit them.”
This newspaper was reliably informed that the Ministry’s system is fully computerized and there is almost no room for skullduggery.
“I find this laughable and we too will welcome an investigation,” the source said.
It was explained that when the operators present their invoices, the Ministry’s staff prepares their account which is sent to the Ministry of Finance, where the cheques are prepared and uplifted by the benefactors.
This is in addition to the fact that the figures presented were the subject of a complete audit by the office of the Auditor General.
“The Auditor General would have verified our figures and if there was any discrepancy, they would have picked it up,” the source stated.

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