New filings by the Guyana Revenue Authority in the luxury vehicle tax case against the Mohamed Family, has seen information being provided on the actual purchase cost of the luxury Lamborghini vehicle that was imported by Azruddin Mohamed.
In the Court documents, the GRA has provided an invoice for the vehicle which it was able to obtain from the US Justice Department through information that was provided to Guyana’s Ministry of Home Affairs.
According to the invoice that was billed to Azruddin Mohamed for the luxury sports car, the cost was US$695,000.
The invoice also carried a “PAID” stamp, indicating the full amount was paid for the vehicle. The GRA contends that when the vehicle was imported, the cost paid was declared as US$75,300 and that declaration resulted in a lower tax assessment.
The GRA has also submitted records to the Court which show that US$622,000 was transferred from local bank, GBTI, to the company in the US that invoiced Mr. Mohamed for the sale of the car. The payment transfers, according to the documents, were done in three tranches, according to the Court documents.
The GRA is contending that because of the lower rate declared in the purchase of the car, more than $370 million of dollars in taxes were avoided.
The Revenue body now wants the outstanding amount along with the outstanding amounts it says are also owed on a number of other luxury vehicles imported by the Mohameds, including some under the re-migrant programme.
The Mohameds have challenged the move by the GRA to seize the vehicles over the disputed amount. So far, the High Court and the Full Court have blocked the seizure of the vehicles until the completion of the substantive case before the Court.
Most of the vehicles at the centre of the case were all imported more than four years ago. The Mohameds believe the move by the GRA is politically motivated.
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