against businessman Azruddin Mohamed. Mohamed is accused of evading taxes on an imported Lamborghini Aventador car. The GRA filed an affidavit last Wednesday evening, which included bank transfer information as well as an invoice made out to the businessman, which purported to show the cost of the Lamborghini sports car.

The tax agency alluded to documents from the United States (U.S.) Department of Justice, which reportedly shows that the Lamborghini Aventador, declared at US$76,000, was purchased for US$695,000, a staggering difference of over US$600,000. The Revenue Authority argued that the difference in amounts declared by the businessman’s claim constitutes criminal tax evasion and potentially perjury. GRA disclosed that the documents were received from the U.S. through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.

GRA’s attorneys submitted the additional affidavit to the High Court last Wednesday evening. However, Justice Persaud declared that the affidavit could not be admitted to the court at this stage. However, he did not provide justification for his decision but noted that reasons would be provided subsequently in writing. Sanjeev Datadin, a lawyer for the GRA, told Kaieteur News that the application for an additional affidavit was made as soon as the new information became available. “The information was not available to us, not until yesterday,” he said. Additionally, Mr. Datadin said that Mohamed’s lawyer had not objected to the evidence.

Meanwhile, Mohamed’s attorney, Siand Dhurjon, told the court that the facts in the case are clear – and the new affidavit was submitted by the GRA in an attempt to belatedly introduce new information to the court. As such, the High Court granted an application for the written submission by the GRA to be deemed properly filed, and the request for the “further affidavit in defence” was denied. In essence, Justice Persaud ruled that the court will only consider GRA’s written submission during the trial set for September. (Kaieteur News)