Ogle Airport refutes a report on the flight school

Mar 29, 2018 Letters

THE FACTS OBTAINED BY THIS NEWSPAPER

Dear Editor,
The Kaieteur News, Sunday March 25, 2018 has published yet another completely false story claiming that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has imposed a G$30M tax on Ogle Airport Inc. (OAl). This is a perfect example of the Kaieteur News ignoring the facts.
A simple check with the GRA or OAl would have confirmed that no such tax has been imposed on the Company. All of OAl’s taxes are up to date with the GRA. The report is an absolute fabrication.
It has become obvious that the Publisher of the Kaieteur News, Mr. Glen Lall, is using his paper to pursue a personal agenda regardless of the truth and irrespective of the laws of libel to which the newspaper will have to answer in court.
It is unfortunate that this kind of journalistic abuse continues to flourish without restraint in the name of “freedom of the press”.
The Kaieteur News report goes on to denigrate the Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School “as a tax evading body” and claims that the School was registered as a ‘not-for-profit’ body in order for it to avoid the financial compliance and having to submit audited financial statements.What are the facts? The Guyana Private Aircraft Owners Association Limited was established as a company in 1992, the name being changed to the Aircraft Owners Association of Guyana (AOAG) in 2003, and submitted financial statements on an annual basis to the GRA like any other company.
There was no need for the School to be registered separately in the early years of its existence. Everything was done transparently and recorded in these financial statements. There was no effort or any deliberate attempt to evade taxes as alleged by Kaieteur News.
The Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School, founded by Captain Malcolm Chan-a-Sue and Charles Hutson in 1993, functioned under the umbrella of the Aircraft Owners Association. The School has been an enormous success story and is today recognized as the leading aeronautical engineering school throughout the Caribbean.The School is the only institution in Guyana to be accepted as a candidate for institutional accreditation by the Guyana National Accreditation Council, offering an Associate Degree in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering.
The school is also accredited and certified by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, the Caribbean Safety and Security Oversight System of Caricom, the Jamaican Civil Aviation Authority, the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Suriname. It is the First Tertiary Educational institution in Caricom with an IS0 9001 certified quality Management System.
The rapid growth and expansion of the school made it necessary to restructure the Aircraft Owners Association, a non for profit organization, by separating and establishing the school as an independent, for profit, company.
The school was incorporated under the Company’s Act on 5th April 2016 with its own Board of Management and By-Laws with the school becoming a tax-paying Company.
Sincerely,
Paul Ronald Reece,
President- AIRCRAFT OWNERS ASSOCIATION OF GUYANA INC.
Chairman-ART WILLIAMS AND HARRY WENDT AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING SCHOOL
Director – OGLE AIRPORT INC.

EDITOR’S NOTE
The Association which is listed on its own letterhead as a Non Governmental Organisation was assessed by GRA as it was running the engineering school commercially under the umbrella of a not for profit. Their own minutes state this in black and white
The GRA incident occurred during Michael Correia’s tenure as President of the Aircraft Owners Association of Guyana, a post he held for over 20 years until it was handed to Cpt. Ronald Reece long after the GRA matter.
Given the facts presented by this newspaper, Cpt. Reece’s signed press release can only be seen as malicious to say the very least.

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