Weeks after the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) said it had “irrefutable” evidence of tax evasion by US-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed and his relatives, the tax agency submitted said evidence to the High Court in supplemental filings that expose massive undervaluation of tax filings and could even constitute perjury.
The newly-submitted evidence was provided by the US Department of Justice itself under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) and is comprised of 78 pages of correspondence between US and Guyanese authorities.
Of particular interest is an original invoice for the Lamborghini Aventador at the center of the dispute between the Mohameds’ and GRA. The invoice, which was billed to Azruddin Mohamed himself, declares that the Lamborghini was purchased at a cost of US$695,000. In his previous declarations to the court, however, Mohamed claimed to have spent US$76,000 on the luxury car.
In explaining the timing of the filing, Rajandra Singh in his affidavit of defense claimed that GRA was “constrained by matters of national security” and could not have disclosed the information and included the matters it was now including.
With the information now in hand, however, Singh pointed out in his affidavit that Mohamed presented “fictitious and false” documents to GRA and thus made false declarations to the tax authority in order to evade taxes, a criminal offence.
“The applicant (Mohamed) is guilty of perjury in this court for falsely declaring the value which was paid for said vehicle and submitted a valuation which was false. The applicant was guilty of entering into a criminal and illegal scheme with International Speed Consulting to deceive and defraud (GRA) as to the true price paid for said vehicle.”
It was only on Monday that the Court of Appeal had refused GRA’s application to overturn the High Court ruling that had injunctioned the tax agency from seizing the luxury vehicles owned by the Mohamed’s family.
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