City Hall’s secret tax write-off to PNC must be investigated – AG

Attorney General (AG) and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall has said that the multimillion-dollar tax write-off secretly approved by the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) for the business arm of the Peoples National Congress (PNC) amounts to a financial crime, and must be investigated.
A few years ago, it was reported that the PNC’s headquarters, Congress Place, located in Sophia, Georgetown, owed some $6 billion in rates and taxes to the M&CC.
On Tuesday, sources informed sections of the media that the City Council had approved a major tax write-off for Maikwak Limited, the business and property-holding arm of the PNC. The company now only owes some $20 to $25 million in rates and taxes.
During his programme “Issues in the News” on Tuesday evening, Nandlall criticised this decision, highlighting that the City Council is dominated by PNC politicians.
“Where are all the moral masqueraders? Don’t they see the prostitution here? Don’t they see the legal perversity? Don’t they see the conflict of interest? Don’t they see the violation of natural justice? Don’t they see the bias? This decision cannot stand; it’s absolutely unlawful. Whether the City Council has the power or not, the City Council cannot singularly choose one rate payer that happens to be its political masters and write off taxes that are owed by that political master,” he contended.
In this regard, Nandlall called for an investigation, noting that the secret tax write-off can be considered a financial crime.
“This has to be investigated; this amounts to a financial crime. Billions of dollars of taxes are being written off, and nobody knows about this. It’s leaked, somehow in the newspapers, in the press,” he said.
When the issue of the PNC’s outstanding debt was initially raised a few years ago, Nandlall had contended that City Hall, which often cries of being cash-strapped, should consider write-offs for the less fortunate instead of political parties.
In September 2024, it was reported in the media that the land where the PNCR’s Congress Place headquarters is located, which is owned by Maikwak, had owed the M&CC $6.7 billion in rates and taxes for Congress Place.