Companies that benefitted from UHWI tax exempt status named
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The article describes Auditor General findings and a Parliament Public Accounts Committee hearing alleging misuse of UHWI’s tax-exempt status by named private companies, resulting in over $20 million in unpaid import duties.
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The names of the four companies mentioned in a damning Auditor General’s Department report as illegally benefitting from the University Hospital of the West Indies’ tax exempt status were revealed during Tuesday’s meeting of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The four companies are Supreme Laundry Services, Willman Sales, Scientific Medical Services and JACDEN Limited.
Prior to the naming of all four companies by the acting Chief Executive Officer of the UHWI, Eric Hosin, following prodding from committee member Christopher Brown and PAC Chairman Julian Robinson, only JACDEN, whose CEO is the Opposition Member of Parliament for St Andrew East Central Dennis Gordon, was publicly known.
The practice of the UHWI in allowing its tax exempt status to be used by private companies in breach of the Customs Act resulted in over $20 million in unpaid import duties being lost, according to the audit report.
Hosin told the PAC on Tuesday that the Customs Department had completed its probe into JACDEN.
He read from a section of the report which said: “Third party verification from the named company with the assistance of the CEO of that company found that: the goods (dialysis machines) were imported by the company; paid for by the company; the value of the goods was verified by payment records received from the company; and custody of the goods was verified to be that of the company”.
Additionally, the company confirmed that the goods were imported for that company by the UHWI.
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