Ousainou
Darboe, the secretary general and leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP)
has spoken on the Supreme Court’s decision in which the Commission of Inquiry
fined him (Darboe), liable for tax avoidance.
The
UDP leader dismissed suggestion from the public that he only paid tax during
election. “It’s something that is not true. Yes Ousainou Darboe does have
arrears but it’s not about only election that I do pay tax. Apparently, some
people on social media are suggesting that I was nabbed on tax evasion that’s
not true,” he said yesterday during an interview on SENN FM.
The
Supreme Court last month upheld the decisions of the Commission of Inquiry that
Lawyer Darboe was paying his tax as arrears for the purpose of nomination in
elections. The court held that payments of the taxes were only made during
election periods, adding that Darboe was not compliant with the tax laws. The
court found that Darboe has tax arrears that he failed to pay.
Darboe
was challenging the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into tax evasion. The
Commission found him liable of about 2 million dalasis on tax evasion. The
adverse finding was dated 6th June 2012 wherein Darboe was found liable of tax
evasion to the tune of D1,981,296.52 (one million nine hundred and eighty-one
thousand two hundred and ninety-six dalasis and fifty-two bututs).
He
added: “I want people especially those in the media to be careful about such.
It is arrears and that arrears are something that one pays and that it’s going
to be paid. They said I was not paying tax, but if you don’t pay tax that is
evasion. Again, there’s no one in the country that is working and doesn’t have
arrears on tax,” he claimed.
“The
point is, I’m a politician and that’s why my case was brought up. But there’re
up to seven lawyers in the country that have issue on tax which are up to
millions, but their issues are not being talked about. They can talk about my
case because the people that I’m dealing with want to make the issue worse so
that people will say I did tax evasion while it’s just arrears.”
On
Ya Kumba Jaiteh case, Darboe said, the Supreme Court has made a decision and
that the president has no power to remove her because the law doesn’t give him
that power to do so. In fact, in the face of the law if you did anything that
you supposed not to do it’s a taboo.”
“In
my opinion, if the government is doing anything they should consult people who
know something about it but not people that don’t even know their left and
right.”
Darboe
claimed that the Justice minister was not consulted about Barrow’s decision to
remove Ya Kumba Jaiteh, saying: “I believe if he (Tambadou) was consulted it
would have not happened. I know how he understands the law and how he respects
the law. If he was consulted this kind of thing would have not happened.”
Ya
Kumba’s victory, he added, shows that our judges will not listen to anybody.
Again, this shows that any Gambian can go to court with the government. “This
is a good sign for the country,” he stated.
