Concessions information is not a state secret –Finance Minister

May 26, 2016 News

Information regarding any aspect of the concessions granted to foreign and/or local companies under the past

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan

regime is not state secret, said Finance Minister, Winston Jordan.

Jordan said that the media and any member of the public for that matter have a right to know how the nation has benefitted in this regard.
He reiterated that data on such subjects should not be treated as a “state secret.”
The Finance Minister said, “I have said it before and I will say it again, the public and the media have a right to know what is going on in the country.
“It is reasonable for taxpayers to want to know what the government of the day is doing in various sectors. It is even more reasonable for them to question how members within various sectors are operating and operated during a certain period.”
Jordan added, “We need a society that questions what is going on and if the taxpayers ask for information, once it does not conflict with the laws of the land then why should entities not make it known? I believe that they have a responsibility to do so. These things are not state secrets so make it known.”
Jordan said, too, that the ad hoc system which allowed investors to benefit from open-ended concessions will soon be a thing of the past. The politician said that the scheme is one that is no longer sustainable and as such, a much more beneficial and legal policy will be in place. He said that moves are already being made in this regard.
“For the foreseeable future, we will have to use an incentive regime to attract and encourage investors but we will have to use a regime that is more sustainable.”
The Finance Minister added, “What was done before was that concessions were given out in an uncontrolled manner. You would see in some cases that concessions given to certain firms or persons were open-ended and not monitored.”
Minister Jordan said that his Ministry is hoping to define the manner in which the concessions are granted, while pushing to have the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), monitor the concessions better in a much more effective way.
He said, “Investors or businesses are supposed to file annual returns with the GRA and this has not been done in almost every instance…so we need to move swiftly because not to do so is an illegal act. It also means that the relevant agencies are not doing their job.”
The Finance Minister emphasized the point that concessions must be capped. Asked if this will affect the exorbitant concession deals granted under the previous regime to certain companies, Jordan said, “Any new system will change the way things are.”
He added, “I don’t want to be unfair but there are laws and if they are not followed then the relevant agencies must move to enforce the laws or retract the concessions granted.”
The ad hoc system in which concessions were granted under the previous regime was heavily criticized by the coalition party on the 2015 election campaign trail.
These criticisms were brought to the front burner when the PPP struck a handsome concession deal with a local contractor to repair the fibre optic cable from Lethem to Georgetown. This was part of the E-Governance initiative launched under the previous Government.
Additionally, the APNU+AFC spoke out against the controversial Marriott Hotel which has been the recipient of extravagant tax holidays and tax breaks similar to Dax.
Given the aforementioned “concession-trend”, the APNU+AFC party had concluded that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) granted concessions in three packages— Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Junior Finance Minister, Jaipaul Sharma, had said that the gold package is the first-class tax concessions that the former Government granted through the former Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, to its family and best friends.
The silver package was for party members and the bronze package represents the tax concessions that were given to its supporters.