— in SM Jaleel & Company case, says Attorney General

THE CARIBBEAN Court of Justice’s (CCJ) decision in the SM Jaleel & Company Limited, Guyana Beverages Inc case is a major victory for Guyana, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams has said.
According to Williams, taxpayers will no longer have to bear “the full burden of the lawlessness” of the previous administration.

In handing down its judgment on Tuesday in the case – SM Jaleel and Guyana Beverages Inc. v the State of Guyana – the CCJ ordered Guyana to pay a collective sum of Environmental Tax for the period March 7, 2011, to August 2015, together with four per cent interest per annum.
Ahead of the judgment, the companies had argued that Guyana had breached the principles of trade liberalisation and free movement of goods envisioned by the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) – the treaty which established the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

As such, they were claiming a refund of the environmental taxes imposed on the companies during the period January 1, 2006, to the date of repeal of the Act in August 2015.
Williams said when the APNU+AFC Government assumed office in May 2015, it inherited the unpaid judgment of over US$6M or GY$ 7.2 Billion awarded against the PPP/C Government by the CCJ.
In other words, Guyana was destined to reimburse S.M. Jaleel a similar sum of over US$6M. He said for the two defences argued by the Attorney General on behalf of Guyana , two points were noted that S.M. Jaleel & Company Limited/ Guyana Beverages Inc had passed on to the consumers the Environmental Tax and for the country to reimburse them, would be to unjustly enrich them.

In addition, it was noted that on the issue of “Laches,” the companies had sat on their rights and failed to challenge Guyana’s collection of the said tax at the earliest opportunity, and were therefore barred by ‘Laches’ from maintaining any claim.
The recent ruling would see the Trinidadian company obtaining only reimbursement for four instead of nine years — a sum which would be subject to Corporation Tax of 40 per cent — less than half of their claim.
“The court finds that a period of five years is neither too long nor unduly short for a claimant to commence proceedings. The court considers that this time limit will protect states from being vexed by claims relating to long-past incidents about which their records may no longer be in existence and as to which their witnesses may well have no accurate recollection,” the CCJ explained.

Surinamese entity, Rudisa Beverages, had taken the PPP Government to court over the “discriminatory” Environmental Tax a few years ago.
The company had argued that there was an imposition of $10 on every disposable container imported into Guyana.
They eventually won the case, by arguing that a similar tax was not imposed on local distributors such as Banks DIH and Demerara Distillers limited.
“All of this happened because of the ineptitude of the PPP Government,” Williams said of the recent CCJ ruling.