GST Dept. Says BTL Up to Date with Taxes

Two days after the news broke, C.E.O. Rochus Schreiber handed in his resignation letter and according to B.T.L., Schreiber decided to pursue other personal interests and reunite with his family in the U.K. at the end of September. Notably, his departure also comes days after the Senate passed and ratified the Tax Administration and Procedure Bill which holds liable, heads of corporations who are noncompliant with taxes. Though as the press conference was underway, the G.S.T. Department said B.T.L. was up to date with taxes.  The P.U.P.’s Kareem Musa challenged the G.S.T. Department, B.T.L. and the Prime Minister to give the Belizean people real and meaningful answers and assurances.

Kareem Musa, PUP Shadow Responsible for Communications & Public Utilities

Kareem Musa

“I don’t know if Mr. Rochus’ resignation had anything to do with the criminal liability that is now in place in terms of the directors of corporations. It certainly begs the question; his departure comes right on the heels of this audit coming out of the GST department. It begs the question whether if his new law had anything to do with that and his liability as a director. No one has come forward from the government with any sort of explanation and I know they are trying to use excuses about this and that. But we want to hear from the Prime Minister and we want to hear from the Fin Sec definitively what is going on with this audit that your government has done on the people’s company. I don’t get that they are saying that it is not authentic. I don’t get that they are saying that. It is verified. I want them to come and have a press conference just like that and tell you that this is not a real audit. That is what we are asking for. We want answers. We don’t want them to be sending out press releases and dodging and ducking on this very important issue. The fact remains this is a real valid audit that was carried out by GST. Now if there is something in these numbers that they want to adjust, by all means call a press conference and do that but don’t try to cover it up which we now see they are trying to do by sending out press releases. Come and answer the tough questions because this report was done over a period of years, is very comprehensive, is very extensive and it is now damning on this government.”