High Court blocks GRA from seizing vehicles from Azruddin Mohamed’s home

Last Updated on Saturday, 5 April 2025, 21:36 by Writer

High Court Judge Gino Persaud granted an injunction on Saturday, blocking the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) from seizing any of Azruddin Mohamed’s vehicles until the hearing and determination of a matter concerning the businessman’s alleged failure to pay additional taxes.

Following the in-chamber hearing, Attorney-at-Law Siand Dhurjon told Demerara Waves Online News that the judge’s “interim injunction has been granted commanding the GRA and forbidding them from seizing” several vehicles.

Mr Dhurjon said Justice Persaud also ordered the GRA to file a response in justification to Mr Mohamed’s application for the injunction on or before Tuesday, April 8, 2024. The matter was adjourned to Friday for further arguments and hearings on the injunction.

The vehicles are a 2020 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Roadster motor vehicle bearing registration number PZZ 4000, one used 2021 Toyota Land Cruiser motor vehicle bearing registration number PAB 3000, one used 2021 Toyota Land Cruiser motor vehicle bearing registration number PAB 4000 properties of Azruddin Mohamed, and one 2020 Ferrari PAD 5000 in the name of Hana Mohamed.

GRA alleges that the taxes owed on the two Land Cruisers are GY$24,641,272 each, GY$371,775,168 on the Lamborghini, and GY$479,743,489 on the Ferrari.

No mention was made of the GRA’s intent to seize one 2023 Land Rover Range Rover PAC 9000 in the name of Leslie Khan and one 2023 Rolls Royce PAE 5000 in the name of Bibi Mohamed.

The substantive matter comes up in mid-May.

Earlier on Saturday, Mr Mohamed, backed by a group of persons, refused to allow GRA agents from seizing the vehicles because of failure to settle the tax liability, as reported here.

Mr Dhurjon said the application for the injunction was filed on Wednesday and the GRA was informed by email and acknowledged. He said the GRA still proceeded to seize the vehicles prompting him to move to the court on Saturday.

The city businessman wants the High Court to declare that the vehicles are his properties, at the times of their respective registrations they lawfully entered in Guyana in 2021. The other declaration being sought are that the taxes now being claimed on the vehicles are arbitrary, ultra vires, unreasonable, contrary to natural justice, in breach of the Fifth Schedule of the Customs Act, Cap.82:01, irrational, unfair, an abuse of power, whimsical, capricious and without any legal foundation or authority.

He also wants the High Court to quash the GRA’s impositions of taxes for the three vehicles amounting to GY$421,057,712 as communicated by letters from the GRA on March 26, 2025.

Concerning the Lamborghini, Mr Mohamed’s court papers state that that vehicle was purchased from a vendor in Texas, USA for US$75,300 on 7th October, 2020. “This is the true and correct transactional value that was declared and accepted,” he states. That’s GY$48,968,035- more particularly GY$33,500,634 in excise taxes, GY$8,040,152 in value-added taxes and GY$7,426,249 in customs duties.

He also said he purchased the Land Cruisers from their vendor in Ontario, Canada at US$40,000 each in May, 2021, “the true and correct transactional value that was declared and accepted” and in September 2021 paid GY$49,704,248 in taxes was paid in respect of both vehicles, more particularly GY$34,004,312 in excise taxes, $8,161,034 in value-added taxes and GY$7,537,902 in customs duties.

“All due taxes in respect of the Lamborghini and Land Cruisers have already been paid and no new taxes are owing or due to the Respondents in respect of same,” he said.

Mr Mohamed added that the GRA thoroughly and extensively queried the declared values of the Lamborghini and the Land Cruisers and after a stringent process of inquiry. He said the GRA’s concerns were satisfactorily answered and my declared values were finally accepted some four years ago in January, 2021 in the case of the Lamborghini and September 2021 in the cases of the Land Cruisers.

However, on 7th March, 2025, Mr Mohamed said the was served with three letters from Mr. Rajandra Singh, GRA’s Deputy Commissioner, stating in each “terse” missive about ‘an investigation into the declared value’ of each vehicle. He stated that ‘the findings of the investigation revealed that the declared value is inconsistent with the values of similar vehicles with the same specifications. As such, there are reasons to doubt the the truth and accuracy of the’ declarations. He said it was “on this sole dubious purported basis” that the GRA imposed GY$421,057,712 in additional taxes on him.

He said he was never given an opportunity to make any representations on the issue of the ‘truth and accuracy’ of his declared values before the respondents imposed the new taxes. “Further, it remains a mystery what values were actually used by the Respondents to compute the taxes imposed in respect of each vehicle. There could be no greater example of arbitrariness. The Respondents failed to state (let alone justify) what they believe are the true values that ought to be declared in respect of each vehicle,” he added.

Against that background, he said the GRA possessed no jurisdictional fact nor lawful authority to embark on new investigations into the declared values of the his vehicles. “It should be noted that the decisions to raise new taxes in respect of the said vehicles could not be based upon any new information that would have only become apparent to the Respondents in March, 2025.”

He further stated in the High Court papers that all relevant information concerning the true and correct values of the vehicles were submitted to the Respondents and were otherwise reasonably within their knowledge in October, 2020 and September, 2021 when the vehicles’ three respective values were accepted by the GRA.