Montano warns UNC of tax probes

Several members of the United National Congress may well be the subjects of investigations by the Criminal Investigation Tax Department when it begins to function. 

The Department is expected to begin working by the end of the month, according to Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Conrad Enill. But his colleague, Science and Techno-logy Minister Danny Montano told the Senate yesterday that members of the UNC “may rue the day” that the Criminal Investi-gation Department of Inland Revenue began its work. Montano said there were former UNC ministers with bank accounts with millions of dollars flowing through them.

The Criminal Investigation Depart-ment would be able to ask how they got this money. Montano said there was a former minister who said to a group of persons in the Red Parrot that he and his family would be rich for four generations. Montano was at the time responding to calls from Opposition Senator Wade Mark to deal with tax evaders. Mark also slammed the CEPEP programme, saying that government for wasting money to pay people to paint stones. But Enill defended the $400 million a year programme, saying that when Government established CEPEP, the intention was never to waste the resources of the state.

“With all its weakness, CEPEP is a programme intended to address  a certain sector of the society, who at the time PNM came to office  had no hope of earning a living. And if that is wrong then we are wrong,” Enill said, to supportive desk-thumping. On the question of gas, he said the gas revenue over the next 20 years was predictable and would produce a revenue stream which would make government’s plans and programmes realistic. He said Government was in the process of going to tender for international consultants to give a perspective on how it should reconfigure taxation in oil to take care of oil, gas and LNG, in order to allow this country to maintain its competitive position.

He said Government hoped to have this completed before the end of the financial year. Enill added that the current Atlantic LNG Trains which were being negotiated had a totally different structure. Enill said Govern-ment was due to begin the construction of a Customs Building by next month. It would also construct an Inland Revenue Building. He said the plan was to have a system where the registration for VAT, PAYE and Cor-poration tax would be done in one place. On the crisis in the Customs Department, Enill said the server which was used for statistical information went down on April 1. It could not be re-booted. He said efforts are being made to replace it in the shortest possible time.