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Westmoorings businessman accused of defrauding BIR

Fri, 12 May 2023 16:37:58 GMT

A businessman from west Trinidad has been granted $200,000 bail after appearing in court charged with using a forged valuation report to allegedly cheat the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) out of $88,750 in stamp duty.

Elias Moses, of Westmoorings, was granted bail after appearing in the Port-of-Spain Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday charged with uttering a forged document and with seeking to cheat the BIR.

Moses was not called upon to plead to the charges, which were laid indictably.

According to the charges, Moses is accused of presenting the alleged fraudulent document to the BIR’s Stamp Duty Section in February 2021, when he went to pay the stamp duty on a $2.6 million property in Point Cumana he purchased.

The report indicated that the property was classed as residential meaning that he owed $93,250 in stamp duty.

It was later discovered that the report was not produced by the valuation firm, whose letterhead was used, and that the property was actually classed as commercial meaning that he should have paid $182,000 in stamp duty.

BIR legal consultant Evans Welch did not object to bail for Moses.

As part of the conditions of his bail, Moses was ordered to report to the Four Roads Police Station once weekly for the duration of his case.

Moses, who was represented by Ravi Rajcoomar, SC, is scheduled to reappear in court on May 31.

Criminal tax investigator Adesh Ramdeo laid the charges.

Derek Achong

Link to Article

Attorney charged for Cheating the Public revenue and Uttering a false Document

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 12:16:00 GMT

An attorney had been granted $600,000 bail after giving himself up to the police at the San Fernando Police Station as a result of four (4) warrants taken out by the Inland Revenue Criminal Tax investigations Unit, relating to forged duty stamps on land deeds submitted to the Inland Revenue Division. The matter was heard in the San Fernando Magistrates Court.

The first offence allegedly occurred on June 11, 2014, at the Registrar General Department, south office, where the attorney submitted a forged Deed of Conveyance which bore a stamp purportedly from the Stamp Duty Section of the Inland Revenue Division.

The false document was accepted and registered. The stamp on the document stated that the document was exempt of stamp duty and a penalty of $12 to be paid to the Inland Revenue Division, when in fact it had not been assessed, nor any penalty paid, further the Board of Inland Revenue had issued no such stamp on the document.

The other offence alleged that he cheated the Public Revenue of $48,250 stamp duty on a deed of conveyance for property with a market value of $ 1.9 million. The deed with a stated consideration of $450,000 also bore a false stamp which represented that the document had been assessed at the Inland Revenue Division, which purportedly attracted a penalty of $12.

Charges were laid and warrants taken out by Mr. Adesh Ramdeo, Criminal Tax Investigator attached to the Criminal Tax Investigations Unit of the Inland Revenue Division of the Ministry of Finance.

Businessman Pleads Guilty To 89 VAT Fraud Charges

Mon, 16 Apr 2018 12:40:00 GMT

A businessman from Tobago, who admitted to charging the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Value Added Tax (VAT) without being registered with the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR), as well as using a VAT registration number on the invoices tendered of another company was been fined $89,000 and $100,000 respectively.

The charges relate to 89 invoices submitted to the THA for goods supplied to its Division of Infrastructure and Public Utilities over the past two years.

The owner of Trinbago General Supplies and Services, pleaded guilty to 89 counts of VAT fraud in the Scarborough Magistrates’ Court. He was also ordered to repay the $189,000 in VAT, which he charged the THA. The fine and the repayment are to be made within six months.

In the event that owner of Trinbago General Supplies and Services fails to meet the deadlines; he will face two months in prison for the unpaid fine and two additional months for failing to repay the BIR.

This investigation was conducted by the Criminal Tax Investigation Unit, Inland Revenue Division and led by Mr. Mansie Williams, Criminal Tax Investigator II.

Businessman ordered to repay $66,000 in VAT

Wed, 09 Sep 2015 12:16:00 GMT

Not registered with Board of Inland Revenue

A man who charged Value Added Tax (VAT) for services rendered while not being registered with the Board of Inland Revenue pleaded guilty to the offence and was yesterday fined $21,000 and 240 hours community service.

The man was also ordered to repay the VAT in the sum of $66,000 at the Port of Spain Magistrates' Court.

Gyasi Gonzales, “Businessman ordered to repay $66,000 in VAT,” Trinidad Express, August 27, 2015.

Director Pleads Guilty to Tax Charges

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 17:02:00 GMT

Officers from the Criminal Tax Investigations Unit of the Board of Inland Revenue executed a search warrant on the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB), seizing the invoice submitted in the $.5 million contract awarded to a marketing employee. The company, Fontaine Branding Solutions Ltd was awarded the contract to supply promotional items for Carnival and corporate events.

Criminal Tax Investigators of the BIR requested the original invoice from the National Lotteries Control Board after it was discovered that the VAT registration number on the invoice was false.

In fact, investigations further revealed that Fontaine Branding Solutions Ltd is not VAT-registered and the number 101578 listed on the March 21, 2013 invoice, belongs to Splendid Foods Ltd located at O'Meara Estate in Arima.

The complainant Rawle Sookhoo of the Criminal Tax Investigations Unit, Board of Inland Revenue Division, laid the charges against (1) Mr. Jevon Jeffrey, director and secretary of Fontaine Branding Solutions Limited and (2) Fontaine Branding Solutions Limited a company not registered under the provisions of the Value Added Tax Act, Chapter, 75:06.

Mr. Jeffrey and Fontaine Branding Solutions who sought to recover from the National Lotteries Control Board of 119 Duke Street Port-Of- Spain, an amount represented to be in respect of Value Added Tax, at the standard rate of 15% namely the sum of sixty-six thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars $66,750.00 pleaded guilty to both charges at the Port of Spain First magistrates' Court on May 18th 2015.

This matter is adjourned to June 30, 2015 for sentencing.

$1.2m bail for lawyer, wife for Cheating the Public Revenue

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 12:16:00 GMT

A prominent lawyer and his wife were released on bail after appearing in court yesterday charged with fraud and tax evasion.

The two were not called upon to plead to the two charges when they appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar.

The couple, both dressed in black business suits, huddled together in the prisoner enclosure of the Port-of-Spain Eight Magistrates' Court as Ayers-Caesar read the charges.

They are accused of undervaluing a multi-million dollar property in Westmoorings to reduce the amount of stamp duty owed to the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) from the purchase.

The offence occurred when the accused allegedly presented a fraudulent property valuation document at BIR's South Regional Office at Cipero Street, San Fernando, on September 20, 2012.

The charge, the $6.2 million property at Regents Drive, Westmoorings, was fraudulently valued $2,750,000 which defrauded the Board of Inland Revenue of over $250,000 in stamp duty. The illegal valuation was allegedly prepared in the name of a non-existant company and valuator.

A warrant was issued for the couple when the discrepancy was discovered by Criminal Tax Investigator Adesh Ramdeo and his colleagues at the BIR’s Criminal Tax Investigation Unit, Inland Revenue Division.

In his application for bail, the couple’s lawyer asked that they be released on their own recognisance because police prosecutors admitted they both had clean criminal records. Mrs. Ayers-Caesar disagreed, saying strict bail conditions were necessary due to the nature of the charges.

The accused is an attorney for over 37 years, was granted $750,000 bail while his wife, a retired chemist, received $500,000 bail.