The United National Congress (UNC) yesterday accused Finance Minister Colm Imbert of subverting and undermining the judicial process by inviting property owners to continue to submit their valuation forms in the face of a High Court injunction stalling the process.
In a press release issued yesterday by the Finance Ministry Communications Unit, it advised property owners that they are free to submit valuation return forms and any supporting documents to any office of the Valuations Division on a voluntary basis.
But notices posted at the various Valuation Division offices stated that the process to accept Valuation Return Forms from homeowners had been suspended.
This release came hours after the Government’s bid to overturn an injunction to resume the property tax drive hit a snag on Monday after the Court of Appeal ruled that the matter was not urgent enough to be heard immediately.
Within minutes of the injunction being overturned, signs were posted outside the Valuation Division offices, advising home owners that the property tax exercise had been suspended until further notice. As a result, many home owners were left in a state of confusion yesterday as to whether they should submit the form or not.
Yesterday, UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar criticised Imbert for inviting property owners to continue to submit their valuation forms in light of the injunction. The lawsuit challenging the property tax will come up for hearing before Justice Frank Seepersad on June 5 and the challenge of the injunction is scheduled to be heard by the Appeal Court the following day.
Imbert had extended the original deadline of May 22, for homeowners to submit Valuation Return Forms to June 5 due to the overwhelming response by citizens.
“We condemn such deception and trickery by the Government. It is a shameless attempt to hoodwink citizens into voluntarily submitting themselves to a valuation process in the face of a strong legal challenge which seeks to have the court declare that the entire process is unconstitutional and illegal.
“This may be seen as another attempt by the Government geared towards undermining the order of the court and the rule of law.
“It borders on contempt, and is a clear violation that breaches both the spirit and letter of the court’s order,” stated Persad-Bissessar in the release.
Persad-Bissessar said citizens who submit these forms would be putting themselves at risk, as the information could give the Government an unfair advantage over them when the court is yet to rule on the legality and validity of the process being utilised.
Ironically, she said citizens would be helping the Government to dig their own property tax graves.
She urged citizens to ignore Imbert’s attempt to undermine the rule of law and judicial process by trying to get the valuations forms through the back door.
“Property owners should not allow themselves to be tricked and deceived by the Government into submitting these forms when they are under no obligation to do so.
“The stay granted by the High Court remains in effect and this is a disingenuous and disgraceful attempt by the Government to sidestep the injunction granted by the court and continue with this illegal process to levy the property tax,” Persad-Bissessar said.
Persad-Bissessar called on Government to respect the court order and allow due process to take its course.
“We call upon Minister Imbert to cease and desist from his outrageous and arrogant conduct and respect the judicial process.
“We commend public officers for refusing to accept these forms and ask that they not allow themselves to be used as political pawns to commit contempt of court.”
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