The premise of this statement attributed to Mr. Nandlall is false

Jan 25, 2017 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The Tuesday 24th January, 2017 edition of the Kaieteur News contains an article under the caption “Banks DIH sues GRA for $28.5 billion.” In that article a statement is attributed to former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, chronicling the history of the Consumption tax dispute between Demerara Distillers Limited and the Guyana Revenue Authority dating back to 2001.
After correctly recounting that the Court of Appeal upheld DDL’s challenge to the GRA’s assessment of its tax liability, and prescribed a formula to calculate that liability, the article reports Mr. Nandlall’s statement to the effect that, in 2009, the GRA again assessed DDL, this time using the Court’s recommended formula, which second assessment was also challenged in Court by DDL.
Mr. Nandlall is quoted as criticizing the Government for its failure “to defend GRA’s assessment done in accordance with the Court of Appeal’s formula.”
It becomes necessary to point out that the premise of this statement attributed to Mr. Nandlall is false. In fact, DDL’s claim in Court was that the GRA’s assessment violated the Court of Appeal formula, and this was a live issue between the parties. The article also does not point out that the second assessment was made two years after the Consumption Act which permitted such assessments had been repealed, so that there was no authority to make the assessment at all.

Miles Fitzpatrick, S.C.
Timothy Jonas

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News