Bharrat Jagdeo in his capacity as General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has revealed that Banks DIH has filed a suit against the Guyana Revenue Authority to the tune of $28.4B concretizing his previously stated belief that Government was setting a dangerous precedent by offering the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) settlement of $1.5B, instead of the $5.3B in a consumption tax case.
Speaking at a press conference earlier today (Monday, January 23, 2017) Jagdeo said this is the biggest scandal of all, noting that the PPP had raised concerns regarding the settlement which he had argued would result in a multi-million dollar debt to be taken from the treasury, since other companies would take similar steps, “you are going to basically trigger a request for refund and it has happened now so Banks DIH is claiming $28 billion of refund only for the period 2001- 2006.”
According to the court documents which were shown to the media, Banks DIH is declaring that it paid $12.8B in consumption taxes for the period 2001- 2006, which is an overpayment of over $9B when compared to DDL’s payment for the said period and which was deemed a mistake following a Court of Appeal Judgment in 2008.
He stated that if the period 2006-2016 is assessed then there could be the possibility of another claim totaling over $30B, hence his arguments against such a deal, which he said the Opposition knows little about whose decision it was.
Jagdeo took a swipe at the Government for costing some $80B in liabilities, alluding to the fact that it would have cost the Government just $1.7B annually to maintain the now closed Wales estate. In addition, the PPP General Secretary pointed out that Government claimed it could not finance the Guyana Sugar Corporation, which needed $10B.
Following an extensive legal battle between DDL and GRA arising out of the Consumption Tax assessment levied against the company by the then Commissioner-General in January 2009, to the tune of over $5B, the company had announced in April 2016 that an amicable settlement had been met between the two.
