MP warns… Joint Opposition’s endorsement of Kaieteur News is cause for concern –it’s ‘sending a troubling message’

THE Kaieteur News, in a Page One comment titled, Will you stand by us’, yesterday appealed to the public for solidarity, in the face of what it alleges is a ploy by people in high places to destroy its operations.

“We call on all political parties, trade unions, the Guyana Bar Association, the religious community, the Guyana Press Association, other civil society groupings and you the citizens to rally by the side of Kaieteur News,” the local daily said.
Simultaneously, the joint opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC), has also indicated its willingness to support the paper.
General-Secretary of APNU, Mr. Joseph Harmon, was quoted in yesterday’s edition of the paper as saying, “We want to put the Government and Sattaur on notice that we will not sit idly by and watch them violate the rights of citizens,” adding that the newspaper has the Coalition’s “unwavering” support in the fight for democracy against the powers-that-be.
The AFC, in a separate statement, has also expressed similar sentiments. “The [AFC executive meeting on Saturday] also expressed solidarity with Kaieteur News, which is being subjected to attempts to muzzle the free press.”
AFC Executive Members, Mr. Moses Nagamootoo, Mr. Nigel Hughes and its leader, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, have been the most vocal on this issue.

SOLIDARITY FOR WHAT?

Since the Kaieteur News’ appeal, and subsequent statements by local politicians, pundits in the political arena have begun to question the grounds on which ‘solidarity’ is being lent.
“What is the imbroglio that Mr. Lall is in? That should be the question being asked,” one seasoned Member of Parliament (MP) told the Guyana Chronicle, on condition of anonymity.
Recently, the publisher of the Kaieteur News, Mr. Glenn Lall, has been fingered in tax evasion schemes.
In early September, Lall was alleged to have evaded taxes for over a decade now. Reports are that Mr. Lall, the owner of the Guyana National Media Publishing Company, is being investigated by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) for the importation of printing ink packaged as a CARICOM (Caribbean Community) product, which enjoys duty free concessions under the Revised Treaty of Chaguramas. Upon closer inspection, however, it was allegedly found that the origin of the inks was from overseas, and therefore in breach of the Treaty. As it relates to the progress of the investigation of the alleged tax evasion, the Guyana Chronicle has been given to understand that the necessary verification requests are still with the relevant authorities in Trinidad and Tobago.
Prior to the tax evasion allegation, Mr. Lall was fingered in an alleged remigrant duty-free concession scam.
Six criminal charges have altogether been since filed against Lall; his wife, Bhena;, and Narootandeo and Gharbassi Brijnanan, who have all been implicated in the scam. The charges follow the seizure of two vehicles allegedly at the centre of a duty-free scam. The two vehicles in question, PRR 8398 and PRR 8399, were handed over to GRA and impounded at the Authority’s warehouse at the end of August, after an hours-long standoff between GRA officials and the Brijnanans’ son, Navin Sankar, a high-ranking GRA employee. An investigation was then launched to ensure that procedures and policy, as well as the provisions of the law were adhered to. The criminal charges, this newspaper understands, stem from that investigation.
Also, in mid-September, both Lall and his wife were sued by Acting Town Clerk of the Mayor and City Council, Ms Carol Sooba, for the sum of $ 5,660,142.00 and $60,142 as unpaid rates and taxes for the years 2004 to 2013 in relation to their property at 24 Saffon Street.
The case is currently being heard at the Georgetown Magistrates Court. In a defence seen by this newspaper and filed by attorney-at-law, Mr Khemraj Ramjattan, the Lalls claim that they had a set off arrangement with the City Council, and they are not indebted for the taxes and that they repaid these taxes by publication of advertisements in the Kaieteur News.
However, a source in the accounting department at City Hall denies any such arrangement. “There is certainly no document in writing to this effect,” the source disclosed.
Additionally, relative to the AFC’s claims that attempts are afoot to “muzzle the free press,” the MP pointed out that the Kaieteur News has been slapped with countless lawsuits and injunctions for libel.
“Every day the newspaper is used to slaughter the reputation and character of people in Guyana,” the MP said, adding that “the real issue has nothing to do with freedom of expression, as the Opposition is claiming.”

TROUBLING MESSAGE
All considered, the MP contends that the joint Opposition is sending a troubling message with its expression of solidarity with Mr. Lall and his newspaper.
“If, in the Opposition benches, this is what they say they stand for, what happens when they get to Government?” the MP queried, expressing dismay that the Opposition would “jump on Kaieteur News” bandwagon, considering the full scope of the circumstances.
“In effect, what the Opposition Parties have done is that they have failed to take a strong stance on the real issues here, which are tax evasion; the use of the free press to target public officials; and other practices by the newspaper that are definitely not above board,” the MP stressed.
“Instead, what they have done,” he said, “is jump on the Kaieteur News bandwagon blindly. And this is troubling, to say the least.”
Kaieteur News’ claim of a sinister plot to destroy it, as well as its call for solidarity from the Guyanese public, is linked largely to the GRA’s move to investigate the Daily’s operations, via an impending audit.
However, Guyana’s tax laws regulating the powers of the Authority are clear, and the GRA has repeatedly said its investigations are grounded on firm bases and not aimed at “destroying” the paper.