QAII roasts Kaieteur News over US$40B story

Queens Atlantic Investments Inc has rubbished a story that appeared in the Kaieteur News Sunday, May 20 edition which said that QAII, a US$40 million company,  had paid $38,000 in VAT.
The company said in a statement that the person or persons who wrote the story cannot be as “dim-witted” as the report suggests, so one has to assume that it is another deliberate attempt to mislead and distract Guyanese from more pertinent matters such as the budget cuts which could very well slow down, or do irreparable harm to the economy.
Firstly, it is obvious that the reporter has the financial statements in his/her possession and that itself is evidence that QAII has complied with the laws of Guyana by duly filing its annual returns. Secondly, it is clear to anyone even slightly interested in reproducing facts accurately that the company cannot be a US$40 million company much less a US$40 billion company as was also cited in the KN story.
According to QAII, the obvious aim of the article is to draw attention to or somehow correlate the $38,000 VAT paid with the size of the company. “This is nonsense to begin with”. “Anyone with even a scrap of interest in the facts would have seen on page 6 of the report that QAII is merely a holding company and has no operating revenues of its own. VAT is naturally being collected and paid by its subsidiaries: these amounts to hundreds of millions. It is important to point out to KN that companies essentially operate as a tax agent for the GRA where VAT is concerned. Input VAT collected through revenues is offset against Output VAT from expenditure and the NET, which could be a very small figure indeed is paid or reclaimed as a refund. It is, therefore, extremely silly to match VAT paid to the size or worth of a company.”
In this case, QAII explained the VAT expense of G$38,647 is neither the Input, or Output, or the Net. “Rather it represents VAT not refunded or disallowed by the GRA on some expenses so this in turn legitimately became the company’s cost. But of course, KN has no interest in the facts.”
“Just imagine a US$40 billion company operating in Guyana and one would grasp the magnitude of KN sensational reporting. At US$40 billion, QAII would outstrip Guyana’s economy many times over even before the opposition mandated budget cuts,” the statement said. “But KN, playing hard and fast and loose with the facts, does not stop there. The report goes on to say that the group’s total assets skyrocketed to $7.9 billion in 2010. Even an imbecile would know that this is the company’s assets, not the group’s and that total assets does not equate to net worth, which is otherwise considered the basic value of the company. The liabilities have to be deducted first.”
Moving on to director fees, QAII said KN found it alarming that director fees and allowances were increased by $0.5 million. “The currency was conveniently omitted so a reader having had his interest heightened by the headlines could easily make the mistake of thinking this is U.S. dollars. For the records, this is Guyana dollars and the reporter could well be suggesting that the directors are deserving of an increase.”
“As regards employment cost being increased and this is normally a good thing [or is not under the new dispensation?] the detractors can rest assured that the employees have paid their dues through PAYE deductions and the company has remitted same.  As to donations being increased, it goes to show that QAII is not only a good corporate citizen; it does not rely on or funnel public donations to contribute to the well-being of the community. That practice obviously leaves a lot of room for financial mismanagement that the newspaper so often likes to condemn. The report closed by repeating the previously published fabrication that the government paid G$400 million to remove asbestos prior to the sale. This is simply ludicrous.”
“KN has taken a keen interest in and has been very attentive to QAII and its operations.
It is only fair that this treatment is reciprocated. It would be interesting and some attention will be given to finding out first what annual returns have been filed for KN and Guyana Stores.
It is already established that Guyana Stores have not filed their annual returns for several years, so given the speed at which companies are being stuck off the register these days, that company could well be operating illegally. Kaieteur News’ owner, Glenn Lall is also a director/owner of Guyana Stores.