Beepat wants public apology, Mayor Narine says no
Georgetown Mayor, Ubraj Narine
Georgetown Mayor, Ubraj Narine

ONE day after it was reported that the Giftland Mall was not indebted in taxes to the Georgetown Mayor and City Council, the mall’s proprietor, Roy Beepat is insisting that an apology be issued by Mayor Ubraj Narine or else legal action will be taken against him.
Beepat, during a press conference on Friday at the Giftland Mall, stated that, given the remarks made by the City Mayor during the ‘contentious tax issue’, his company had come under severe public scrutiny and had suffered losses.
“Giftland has been terribly wronged by the Mayor and all his public utterances,” he said, adding that “Giftland has been singled out to this treatment and myself, and as a result, the company has had tremendous losses, with damage to our reputation, public confidence as well as being looked at as tax cheats.”

Proprietor of Giftland Mall, Roy Beepat during the press briefing on Friday

Given the extent of his losses, Beepat said that he is requesting an apology to be made by the Mayor in person by Monday, February 22 and if he fails to do so, he will take court action and sue the Mayor in his personal capacity for $200 million for defamation of character.
Speaking directly to the Mayor, he said, “We are saying to the Mayor you need to come down and we are giving him up until 2 o’clock on Monday and if he is not here by 2 o’clock on Monday with a full apology to the Giftland Group, and to me personally, I will sue him personally… and I will sue him for $200 million dollars for the damage which he has done to me and my company because what he did was personal.”
Beepat also noted that he is still interested in working with the Council.
“Giftland is a very serious corporate, responsible entity so therefore we will be reaching out to the Mayor and City Council to see how we can put in place arrangements to have our taxes paid.”

After repeatedly insisting that it was owed over $100 million in taxes by Giftland Mall and dragged before the court, the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) had an order requesting payment from the mall quashed by Chief Justice, Roxane George.
When contacted on Friday, Mayor Narine said that he has no intentions of apologising to Beepat since the Chief Justice has not yet made a ruling on the case.
Mayor Narine is also maintaining that the mall is in debt to the City and now has to do a reevaluation to determine how much is owed to the City.
“I am not the owner of the Mayor and City Council, I am acting upon my oath I took upon entering office and there is no ruling on this matter until the March 1st 2021,” he said adding:

“What Mr. Beepat has to do according to the Chief Justice, he has to go now and do a reevaluation and submit that to the Mayor and City Council for a new notice to pay the City Council and that maybe double the amount so I can’t say there is no court order on this matter as yet and why Mr. Beepat behaving like that so I wouldn’t say anything to Mr. Beepat.” Narine said until Beepat is able to produce receipts showing that he has paid taxes to the City Council then he will consider issuing an apology.
“If Mr. Beepat produce such a receipt that he paid the Mayor and City Council I will apologies to him, let him show that he paid the City Council from since his mall come in existence, let him show the public that and then the Mayor will apologise to him,” Mayor Narine said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.