PPP/C offers to “brief” Govt on pending tax cases

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Opposition has put forward an offer to Government to have former Attorney General Anil Nandlall aid his successor in several pending tax evasion cases that would bring in some Gy$20 billion if they were won.

This offer was made by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo during his first meeting with President David Granger and a ministerial delegation from the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition on August 31 at the Ministry of the Presidency.

On Tuesday, Jagdeo told reporters at a press briefing that during the meeting current Attorney General Basil Williams raised issues about files missing from the AG Chambers.

“He (Williams) said that he does not have the files and Anil Nandlall – the former Attorney General – has publicly stated more than once that all the files that are necessary for all the cases are in the office or the institutional knowledge is there. He did not take a single document away,” the Opposition Leader declared.

Moreover, Jagdeo outlined that in order to ensure that the State was successful in the pending tax cases so that it could recover as much as it can, the Opposition was willing to have Nandlall lend his “institutional memory” to the AG Williams.

“We will share all of the institutional memory that we have about those tax cases, because we don’t want the Government to lose those tax cases based on bad legal representation, because it will cause the treasury billions of dollars and us as taxpayers – people of this country. We want to share things with them, we want to work with them on this,” he outlined.

Jagdeo said that he informed those present at the meeting that there were billions of dollars in liabilities to the State tied up in just a few cases in court. He further disclosed that there were about 10 such cases he was knowledgeable about with a whopping Gy$20 billion outstanding in taxes that could be put into the treasury and directed towards developing the country.

According to the Opposition Leader, this move is reflective of the PPP/C’s approach in dealing with the APNU/AFC administration. He pointed out that it would not be seeking to block everything or anything that came on the agenda, because it was brought by the Government.

“We will take a different approach from the one that they (Government) took when they had control of the Parliament. They sought to block everything – the Money Laundering Bill, the Amaila (Falls Hydro Project), (Specialty) Hospital or the Airport Project,” he said.

Jagdeo pointed out that the PPP/C Opposition will be supporting things that are national and will seek to benefit the people of Guyana. “We hold them (Government) to the promises that they made to the population and we will vigorously oppose things that we feel are bad for Guyana,” he added.