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Tax fraud: Some baffling questions
Thursday, 14 June 2007 - 4:49 AM SL Time
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This is a land of confusion and obfuscation, where allegations of all sorts are levelled against various people and probes held but the people are left none the wiser in the end.
The Auditor General`s Department claims to have blown the lid off a mega tax fraud. It was exposed by none other than the then Auditor General S. C. Mayadunne himself last year. His report revealed that the fraud had deprived the country of a whopping sum of Rs. 389 billion! This revelation should have galvanised the government into calling for an immediate probe. The Opposition should have taken to the streets. But, nothing of the sort happened. Some noises were made and they fizzled out with the passage of time.
Secretary to Treasury Dr. P. B. Jayasundera has contested Mr. Mayadunne`s claim. He has said the Auditor General`s Department inquiry was not accurate. According to him, the total revenue loss to the state has been only 6.2 billion rupees. Mr. Mayadunne, now in retirement, has disputed Dr. Jayasundera`s statement. He stands by his report, which is now before Parliament. Confusion worst confounded!
Now, the billion dollar question is: How come there is so massive a difference between the figures given by the former AG and those by the Treasury Chief? A disparity of a few billion rupees may be considered permissible. But, how on earth could there be a difference of 383 billion rupees? This is simply amazing!
Is it that we who are weak as a nation in mathematics, as manifest in the high failure rate in that subject at the GCE O/L examination year in year out, cannot get our figures right? A wag says we couldn`t at least decide when the last presidential election should be held because we couldn`t add six years (term of a President) to the year 1999 (when the previous election had been held). Finally, the wag adds, the Supreme Court had to intervene to sort it out for us.
Or, is it that the public is not being told the truth about the tax fraud for reasons best known to the powers that be? Politicians are quite adept at hushing up probes. This is a country where floors of hotels go missing and ships get `swallowed` like toffees without the culprits being brought to book. This is because politicians and their lackeys are capable of lying through their teeth. Not even the most sophisticated lie detector in the world is going to figure out such lies.
Who is telling us the truth about the tax fraud?
Mr. Mayadunne vouches for the accuracy of his report, which is based on data furnished by a number of key state institutions such as the Inland Revenue, the Customs and the Registrar of Motor Vehicles. Had there been any discrepancies in his findings, he says, those departments should have raised objections, when explanation was called from them. So, he argues there cannot be anything wrong with his findings.
His findings seem to have gone the same way as the COPE report, which has made some startling revelations about glaring irregularities in some privatisation deals but fallen short of triggering a high level investigation, as it has run into opposition in some quarters. The outspoken COPE Chairman Wijedasa Rajapakse has attributed the prevalent financial chaos to the failure of the national legislature. What an indictment!
A Japanese minister committed suicide the other day when some of his corrupt deals came to light. But, here our guys are not so lily-livered. They will never commit suicide. Instead, they may commit homicide to hush up investigations.
If the tax fraud in question has resulted in a loss of Rs. 389 billion to the state coffers as the former AG says in his report, then the country has lost about 13 per cent of its GDP. Or, with that money several reservoirs like the Moragahakanda Scheme could have been built. Over 90 per cent of the country`s road network is said to be in need of repairs and with that money that problem could have been solved to a considerable extent. It is a colossal loss which cannot be taken for granted at all. On the other hand, it needs to be stressed that the Treasury Chief must be having good reasons to dispute Mr. Mayadunne`s findings, though the difference between their figures defies logic.
The public is confused beyond measure. Parliament, which is responsible for public finance has to live up to public expectations. The matter is now before a Parliamentary Select Committee, we learn. The investigations must be expedited and action taken based on the findings. Inordinate delays only help the culprits cover their tracks.
Strangely, the UNP, which has, of late, risen from its slumber and is launching scathing attacks on the government over what it terms unbridled theft of public funds, should be more vocal on the tax fraud. What it is protesting against may pale into insignificance in comparison to the massive loss the country is said to have incurred because of the tax scam. After all, it is the UNP which calls for a PSC at the drop of a hat. Only the JVP seems to have evinced a keen interest in the fraud but it is not doing enough to make that a political issue. It is the duty of those parties to whip up enough public enthusiasm over the scam so that the probe to be conducted won`t lose its momentum in time to come.
That is what an Opposition is there for!
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GamaRaala
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 825
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18 Jun 2007 13:23:24 GMT Report for Abuse
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MrBrown,
This is not sourced properly. This is the editorial of The Island on 14/06/2007
http://www.island.lk/2007/06/14/editorial.html
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