– VP says recent luxury car tax evasion claim is about enforcement not corruption
As the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) recently issued a press release explaining its authority to re-evaluate and recover unpaid taxes, Vice President (VP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has weighed in on the controversy surrounding luxury vehicles brought into Guyana under the re-migrant scheme, emphasising that the tax authority is well within its rights to demand unpaid taxes.
Jagdeo’s comments come after claims by Team Mohamed that the vehicles in question had been in the country for four years and are only now being scrutinised – something the VP dismissed.
Speaking at his weekly press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo clarified that these vehicles were not imported under the name of businessman Azruddin Mohamed but rather in the names of individuals registered as re-migrants.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
“Now clearly the GRA has to give explanations on some of these issues. So I saw again in the public domain put out by the Mohammeds that this claim that these vehicles came in four years ago, and it’s only now that the GRA is trying to conclude the transactions. Now, that is not entirely accurate. Several of these vehicles came in a couple of years ago, in fact three of the vehicles, and they came in through a re-migrant scheme,” Jagdeo explained.
Re-migrants are required to maintain legal residence in Guyana for five years, spend at least 183 days per year in the country, and personally use the vehicle as their primary mode of transportation under the GRA’s standard conditions for duty-free concessions.
Vehicles under this scheme cannot be leased, sold, or transferred within the five-year period, and owners must report to the GRA every six months for inspection. Non-compliance with these conditions is an offence under Section 36 of the Customs Act, which may result in penalties, including fines and forfeiture.
Enforcement
According to the GRA, the re-migrants who brought in the vehicles under question did not fulfil these conditions, particularly the residency requirement. This has led to the GRA’s move to recover the waived taxes. Jagdeo stressed that the issue at hand is not corruption within the GRA but rather the enforcement of tax regulations.
“It is GRA’s contention now that the re-migrants did not fulfil these conditions… First of all, they did not live here for the stipulated 183 days. So, these vehicles only came in about two or three years ago. So that now is being monitored. So, I don’t see where…there’s corruption there in the GRA”, he noted.
“It is contrary to the letter that, the duty-free letter that they got the individuals, because it didn’t come in Team Mohamed’s name. It did not come in his name. It came in the name of re-migrants. So now they’re entitled to go after the taxes,” the VP added.
The GRA recently issued a press release explaining its authority to re-evaluate and recover unpaid taxes, a move that came shortly after Team Mohamed publicised details of their tax payments.
Jagdeo defended the agency’s actions, arguing that voluntary compliance in tax matters does not exempt individuals or businesses from scrutiny if false declarations are made.
He acknowledged that the length of time taken to act on some of the vehicles may be a valid concern but maintained that the GRA is acting within the law to ensure tax compliance.
“The GRA immediately almost, came out after his post and said, here are the reasons why we can go back, because it’s a voluntary compliance system that we have. So I have not seen any accusation that the GRA corruptly took money or anything like that. But you may question the length of time it took on a couple of the vehicles,” he said.
