Illegal for GRA to ask for ‘source of funds’ from remigrant applying for duty-free concession – CJ

Chief Justice Roxane George today struck down and quashed the requirements imposed by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to question the source of funds from a remigrant who applied for a duty-free concession for his new Toyota Landcruiser.

Reaz Manjoor remigrated to Guyana in August 2023. Manjoor had resided for over 10 years in America and decided to pursue different opportunities in Guyana. After presenting his case to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was awarded him with remigrant status on 23^rd August, 2023.

Godfrey Statia, the head of GRA was notified of this by the Ministry.

Remigrants, after being awarded their remigrant status by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, benefit from preferential tax conditions when they import a vehicle and their other personal effects. A remigrant who imports a vehicle such as the 2023 LC300 Toyota Landcruiser with an engine size of 3,500cc would only have to pay an excise tax of 30% (approximately $4,300,000) Without the remigrant status, the taxes for the same Landcruiser would cost $43,784,000. Of that amount $6,627,000 would be customs duties, $29,983,000 would be excise taxes and $7,174,000 would be the value-added taxes.

Manjoor provided the GRA with all of the necessary documents (and more) to enable the GRA to grant his tax exemptions. Instead of granting those exemptions, the GRA through its officers embarked on a campaign of seeking financial information from the remigrant.

Mr. Manjoor cooperated and provided documentation including affidavits, a letter pleading his case, his online bank information showing the debit and credit of his account with the purchase funds, a copy of the cheque used to purchase the vehicle, the receipt from the auto sales he used, the Chase wire transfer instructions from his aunt who provided him with the funds and other pertinent information.

The GRA  then suspended all processing of Mr. Manjoor’s tax exemptions until he could provide information to satisfy them.  The GRA provided nothing in writing to Mr. Manjoor of their position until 30^th April, 2024 when Mr. Gavin Low, Deputy Commissioner of the GRA wrote to Mr. Manjoor stating that “it is the duty of the GRA to verify the legitimacy of any transaction that has tax implications. (…) the GRA is not satisfied that you have displayed credible information regarding your source of funding.”

Mr. Manjoor then retained prominent attorney, Mr. Siand Dhurjon.  Mr. Dhurjon wrote the GRA on 8^th August, 2024, threatening legal action if the tax exemptions were not given to Manjoor and if the vehicle was not cleared or released.

The GRA was urged by Mr. Dhurjon that their requests questioning the source of funding were illegal and they could not disentitle Manjoor to his tax exemptions. The GRA failed to respond to counsel’s letter as well as a subsequent correspondence from counsel by email weeks later.

On 28^th October, 2024, Mr. Manjoor instituted proceedings against the GRA over its failure to grant him his tax exemptions and to permit the clearance of his vehicle.

Mr. Gavin Low, in his filed Affidavit in Defence on behalf of the GRA claimed that the person who gave Mr. Manjoor the money to purchase the vehicle was unknown to their internal system and that Mr. Manjoor failed to provide her ‘valid identification’. Mr. Low in his affidavit stated that the GRA had to ensure that the money used by Mr. Manjoor was not ‘the proceeds of illegal activities such as money laundering or tax evasion’. Mr. Low stated that the GRA did not deny Mr. Manjoor his tax exemption but was merely waiting until source of funds could be ‘substantiated’.

Mr. Dhurjon submitted to the Court that there was no provision known to law that permitted the GRA to require a remigrant to ‘substantiate their source of funding’ and that was irrelevant to the administrative process of granting the necessary tax exemptions.

Dhurjon noted that the GRA had already conceded that Mr. Manjoor was a qualifying remigrant and that the GRA was not substantially challenging any of the facts asserted by Manjoor.

This morning at 11:00am, the Chief Justice granted all of the orders sought by Mr. Dhurjon on behalf of Mr. Manjoor. The Judge granted orders of declaration declaring that the Landcruiser was the property of Manjoor and that Manjoor was duly deemed a remigrant by Minister Hugh Todd.

The Chief Justice declared that the GRA’s requirement through Mr. Gavin Low that Manjoor must provide ‘credible information regarding his source of funding’ was illegal and issued an order of certiorari to quash this requirement. The Chief Justice commanded by order of mandamus that the GRA was to grant Manjoor all applicable tax exemptions as a remigrant and commanded them to clear and release the vehicle after Manjoor paid the applicable taxes.

Manjoor’s Landcruiser had come into Guyana since 18^th January, this year and it has been on the wharf racking up storage costs ever since. The Chief Justice ordered that the GRA was to pay the storage costs up to the date of the release of the vehicle. At present storage costs were estimated by Manjoor to stand at just under $1,000,000. The learned Chief Justice ordered that the GRA pay Mr. Manjoor $350,000 in costs before 31^st December, 2024. The learned Chief Justice considered that the costs were high because ‘we have traversed this road before and they (the GRA) seem not to understand’.

After the Chief Justice gave her ruling counsel for the GRA, Ms. Nicklin Belgrave, sought leave to appeal the decision but the learned Judge refused that application. The Chief Justice remarked that ‘I’m not granting leave to appeal. This here is beyond the pale. You have no law, there is no provision.’