Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
A SUPREME Court judge has ruled that the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies, exceeded his jurisdiction when he revoked the concession on a 1999 BMW motor car.
The car belonged to school principal Elma Stennett, who brought a motion in the Judicial Review Court seeking several declarations.
Justice Carol Beswick made the ruling last week when she granted an order quashing the minister's decision revoking the concession rate of duty.
The motor car was seized on the basis that Mrs. Stennett was not using the vehicle exclusively for her own use and purpose, but the judge held that the only relevant condition for the seizure concerned the possible sale or transfer of the vehicle and there was no proof that that had been breached.
After the concession was revoked, Mrs. Stennett was required to pay outstanding duties and general consumption tax amounting to $1.2 million.
Mrs. Stennett took the case to the Judicial Review Court and Justice Beswick, after hearing legal arguments from attorneys-at-law Judith Clarke and Audrey Clarke, who represented Mrs. Stennett, held that the seizure was unlawful.
DAMAGES TO BE ASSESSED
The judge held that the minister and or officers of the Revenue Protection Department of the Ministry of Finance had no power under Section 32 of the Customs Act to seize Mrs. Stennett's motor vehicle. The judge also ordered damages for unlawful detention of the motor vehicle which will be assessed in the Supreme Court.
The Minister of Finance had granted a duty concession to Mrs. Stennett which allowed her to pay 20 per cent of the duty due on a motor vehicle which she had imported.
Investigators of the ministry kept Mrs. Stennett and the motor car under surveillance. They eventually seized the car on June 4, 2001, while it was in the possession of someone who Mrs. Stennett described as her niece.
Some years later, a hearing was held at the Ministry where officials questioned Mrs. Stennett in the presence of her lawyer.
The minister did not attend the hearing but he subsequently revoked the concession on February 17, 2003, on the basis that Mrs. Stennett had breached the conditions under which the concession was granted.
The judge found that the conditions attached to the concession to pay reduced duty on the motor vehicle were not made clear to Mrs. Stennett.
The judge said that although the ministry specified in a letter that full duties would become payable if the motor vehicle was sold or otherwise disposed of within three years of the grant of the concession, there was no reference in restricting use of such a motor vehicle.
The notice of seizure was served on Mrs. Stennett's niece and the judge held that it was not a proper service and ruled that the seizure was, therefore, premature and unlawful.
