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Contentious tax waiver…Council should have been informed of transaction
– Minister Whittaker
By Zena Henry
The Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is accusing Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker, and
Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker
acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba of carrying out a questionable transaction, where they waived the rates and taxes payment of a prominent businessman who did not qualify for that exemption.
Mayor Hamilton Green, his Deputy and other prominent Council officials made an official report of the matter on Wednesday. They informed the public that the evidence in their possession shows that the Minister “secretly” instructed the acting Town Clerk to exempt the businessman from paying his taxes with the permission of the Council.
The officials are even more peeved because they understand that the building (the former Strand Cinema, now Universal Church of the Kingdom of God Inc. located at 162 Charlotte and Wellington Streets, Lacytown) was sold for several million US dollars.
The Council is saying that the owner of the building, Anand Prasad, applied for the tax exemption in 2012, but did not qualify. The matter ended up before the Court and Prasad was ordered to pay $10M in rates and taxes. He appealed the matter, which is still unconcluded.
Subsequently, another person, Ganga Prasad of Ganga Prasad and Sons applied for exemption on the same building, this time to Minister Whittaker. The Minister then instructed Sooba to make the exemption, but the Council was never informed.
When contact was made with Minister Whittaker yesterday, he said that he indeed had given a “no objection” letter to Sooba last July for a $27M exemption of tax for the Lacytown building for the period 2002-2009. He said that in the application the businessman claimed that he was offering the building to the Brazilian church for free.
But according to Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, this was never the case, since according to the minutes of the
Town Clerk (ag)
Carol Sooba
Council’s Finance Committee, in 2012, it was found that the businessman was receiving a rent from the Brazilians. It was at that same meeting, she said, that then substantive Legal Officer Carol Sooba had advised that the said businessman had not paid the $10M owed and thus could not sell the Lacytown building which he was at the time trying to do.
The Deputy Mayor insisted that the building could not be sold unless the outstanding taxes were cleared, especially since along with interest, the new tax figure owed was over $53M. For this reason, they said, the Minister gave the exemption.
The Minister says however, that he was not aware of several matters surrounding that particular property, including that there was any court matter; that the property was up for sale, and he did not know that the Council was unaware of his instructions.
He said that the Town Clerk (ag) ought to have informed the Council of his letter. She should have also told the Minister of the legal issues surrounding the property, since as Legal Officer at the time; she (Sooba) was the one who filed before the Court, a Notice and Reasons of Opposition to the sale of the Lacytown property for non-payment of taxes. The Minister is adamant, however, that under Section 212 of the Municipal and District Councils Act 2013, he has the power to give a ‘no objection’ to the exemption.
While the Council argues that the law cited gives the Minister no such power, they are unwavering that he gave a “Ministerial order” for the exemption when the Council as a body, is the only entity legally permitted to give such exclusion.
The Minister reiterated that the businessman told him that he gave the building out for free and was entitled exemption for the period 2002-2009. The Council says however that until sometime in 2008, the church had not been present, and even then the businessman was not entitled to the exemption, because he was profiting
The building in dispute
from the rental of the building. Prior to that, the building housed the Strand Cinema. Only buildings for non-profit, religious purposes and to such effect are entitled to exemptions.
The Council also reported to the Crime Chief, other “illegal” use of money by the Town Clerk (ag).
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