GRA Chairman slams PSC over Sattaur matter

Last Updated on Sunday, 10 January 2016, 15:34 by Denis Chabrol

Commissioner General (on leave) of the Guyana Revenue Authority, Khurshid Sattaur.

The  Chairman of the Board of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rawle Lucas Sunday rejected claims by the Private Sector Commission that tax agents searched or seized property from the home of Commissioner General, Kurshid Sattaur.

Sattaur has been sent on leave to pave the way for an audit of the tax collection and Guyana’s major revenue generation agency.

Lucas said GRA officials went to Sattaur’s home on December 31, 2015 by mutual agreement to “retrieve the property of the Government of Guyana and to ensure that sensitive taxpayers’ data was properly secured.”

Accusing the PSC of “maliciously” and erroneously claiming that Sattaur’s rights have been violated, the GRA Chairman charged that the business organisation appeared to be stoking “fear” in taxpayers.

“The troubling feature of that erroneous claim is that the PSC seems to be seeking to drive fear and mistrust of GRA into the minds of taxpayers, the very things that the new Governing Board is seeking to heal in its relationship with taxpayers,” said Lucas.

He lambasted the PSC for issuing a statement that in the end leaves it with a tarnished image and its credibility at stake.

“That the PSC would take time to carefully construct unsubstantiated statements without seeking to find out the position of the GRA does not speak well for its own integrity and comes across as a deliberate attempt to malign and frustrate an organization that is trying to turn its tarnished image around.

The PSC ought to be careful since continued distortion of facts would make it difficult for those who have to deal with it to rely on anything that it has to say,” he said.