Town Clerk suggests that selective debt recovery is in order

Oct 12, 2013 News

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Town Clerk, Carol Sooba, admits that a taxpayer owes City Hall in excess of $64M. She further admits that no legal action has been taken against that person even though a debt recovery campaign has been launched.
She was at the time speaking at a press conference on her decision to sue Publisher of Kaieteur News Glenn Lall, Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram, and City Mayor Hamilton Green’s wife Dr. Jennifer Basdeo.

City Hall has sued Lall for $6.2M while it owes Kaieteur News $7.1M for advertisements placed from 2007. An arrangement to offset the payments was previously made with City Hall.
According to Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram, he welcomes the legal action initiated by the Town Clerk Carol Sooba despite the motives.
He said the legal action will advance a resolution of long outstanding matters. “It is regrettable, however, that the Court is now being drawn into what is essentially an administrative issue.”
Ram said that the Mayor and City Council has moved to the Court to recover in excess of $11M from him in respect of properties in Waterloo Street, Georgetown.
“Up to the time of writing, I have received no prior notice or the summons which was extensively publicized,” he stressed.
Ram, also an Attorney-at-Law, said that discussions on this matter go back into the 90s when an agreement was reached to have balances due for services rendered to the Council offset against rates and taxes assessed. This was confirmed in a letter sent to then Town Clerk Beulah Williams on May 23, 2001.
A section of that correspondence reads: “At your suggestion we agreed to have our rates and taxes account with you and our billings … settled by an exchange of cheques. Our records indicate that the amount owed … exceeds the amount … owed to the City Council for rates and taxes.
“Notwithstanding this, we paid you a cheque for $1,308,750 representing rates & taxes for the years 1997 2001. This payment was made on the basis of our understanding and commitment made several years ago that our balances would be set off against each other.
“Accordingly, neither party can impose interest on any outstanding amount. You agreed to have this resolved shortly.”
He noted, “As a consequence of the breach of agreement, the City Council continued to charge interest on non existent balances and applied our payments of rates and taxes first to interest and any balance to principal taxes”.
Ram said that the claim by the Council includes significant interest charges, which would never have arisen had appropriate action been taken by the office of the Town Clerk.

According to Ram, shortly after Sooba’s appointment last year, he advised her of the matter and subsequently sent her a letter and a statement of account showing a zero balance outstanding.
“In my letter, a copy of which is attached, I expressed the hope that she would bring the matter to a conclusion. As of 20 June 2013, all principal Rates & Taxes assessed have been settled to 31 December 2013 taking into account the amounts owed by Council and there is no amount outstanding,”
Arrangements to trade cheques
Mayor Hamilton Green said that it is clear that Sooba is being used as one instrument to embarrass persons not supportive of Government. The Council has pleaded with Sooba to effect an exchange of cheques since in relation to Lall and Ram the body is indebted to the parties she now deems it fit to sue, he noted.
According to Green, “In each case, the agents reported the very hostile reaction when they sought to bring closure to what ought to be a simple matter of two parties owing one another and then an exchange of cheques.”
Another individual targeted by Sooba is the Mayor’s wife, Dr. Jennifer Basdeo, who objected to the excessive valuation of her property. After years, a re-evaluation was finally done but the present Administration insisted that the interest accumulated over the years must be paid. Had there been a Rating Appeal Panel as prescribe by the laws this matter could have been resolved swiftly.
Sooba’s defence
In attempting to clarify why City Hall sued Kaieteur News, Sooba said it is part of a debt recovery campaign. She said that a notice was sent to Lall requesting him to fulfill his statutory obligations within seven days but Lall did not respond.
Sooba denied having knowledge of City Hall owing Kaieteur News and insists that Lall owes the body. She also denied that Kaieteur News sent statement of arrears to City Hall. She said by no means collecting $5M and $20M would help to restore City Hall, Kitty Market and other facilities owned by the Council.
At the same time, no action has been taken against a taxpayer who owes over $64M, according to Ms Sooba.

 

 

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