Swift action by GFS prevents complete destruction of Guyana Stores

A fire of unknown origin on Wednesday morning threatened the complete destruction of the Guyana Stores building, stretching from Water Street to Main Street in Georgetown.
Firefighters dispatched to extinguish that fire during the wee hours of Wednesday spent hours battling the blaze, which had engulfed the upper flat of the aged structure.

A statement from the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) stated that around 1:29h on Wednesday, a call was received and the GFS was alerted to the fire at Guyana Stores Limited. “Water tenders from the Central, Alberttown, West Ruimveldt and Campbellville Fire Stations were immediately dispatched to the location,” the statement read.
Upon arrival, firefighters said, they observed fire and smoke emanating from the top floor of the three-storey wooden-and-concrete building which is operated as a department store and owned primarily by Tony Yassin and Glenn Lall, publisher of the Kaieteur News.
“Swift action and expert firefighting resulted in the timely extinction of the fire, which saved more than fifty per cent (50 per cent) of the building. However, the eastern section of both the ground and top floors, as well as the entire first floor, were severely damaged as a result of the fire,” the GFS said.
The Fire Service explained six jets working a water relay system from an open water source and a fire hydrant were used to extinguish the fire.
Investigations are being carried out by the Fire Prevention Department to ascertain what caused the blaze.
There has been a vast improvement made by the Fire Service within the last two years, whereas several business places were previously destroyed by fire. In February 2020, the Sachi Store on Regent Street, Georgetown was destroyed by fire, with arson later being ruled out. In April 2021, a massive blaze destroyed Sharon’s Mall, a four-storey building located at King and Charlotte Streets, Georgetown. That fire left the owners of the mall and numerous entrepreneurs and lawyers in distress. Despite strenuous efforts, the Fire Service was unable to save the business places.
Guyana Stores Limited (GSL) was incorporated in 1976 as a State-owned enterprise to acquire the business and assets of the Booker Group of Companies. GSL, which was privatised in 1999, is owned primarily by Tony Yassin and Glenn Lall, publisher of the Kaieteur News. National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited currently has several court actions against GSL for millions in outstanding monies owed to the Government. Lall and Yassin, Directors of Guyana Stores, owe US$2 million of the US$6 million the property was sold for in December 1999.
It also owed the Government over $3.8 billion in taxes, and had lost its legal battle against the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in 2019, regarding the payment of Corporation Tax.
In 2018, GSL lost its appeal in the case, which it had taken before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to determine whether a two per cent minimum corporation tax was unconstitutional and amounted to the taking away of private property.
The CCJ dismissed the GSL appeal and awarded costs to the GRA as respondents. The matter arose in 2012 when the GSL refused to pay more than $3 billion in corporation tax after a notice of demand was sent to the company. The GSL had moved to the local courts, but both the High Court and the Court of Appeal had ruled against GSL, and ordered that it pay the $3,807,346,397 in corporation taxes. The GSL then moved to the CCJ. However, in March 2018, the CCJ ruled that the two per cent corporation tax was not a forced loan, but the tax was constitutional.
The CCJ had stated that the Income Tax Act provides a specialised procedure for challenging assessments, and the GSL should have used that procedure.
The CCJ had also held that the two per cent minimum corporation tax was not a loan, because the State does not repay the taxpayer, nor does the taxpayer have any right to repayment or redemption, which were crucial elements of any loan.
Under Section 10A of the Income Tax Act, the taxpayer simply gets a credit if, and when, the stated conditions are met, and the taxpayer may then apply that credit in reduction of a tax liability, but the taxpayer is never entitled to repayment. The Court also held in its summary that the provisions of the Corporation Tax Act were clear and unambiguous, so that Parliament must be taken to have considered the implication of taxing turnover as distinct from taxing profit, and felt satisfied there was no need to exclude loss years or safeguard the taxpaying company’s capital. (G9)