The Parliament has today voted in favour of recommending the dismissal of four members of the Tax Appeal Tribunal to President Muizzu.
The Parliament has today voted in favour of recommending the dismissal of four members of the Tax Appeal Tribunal to President Muizzu.
Today's vote on the recommendation by the Judiciary Committee was voted by 63 MPs in favour, with 10 votes against.
The Committee had passed the recommendation unanimously by all members in attendance.
As per the Tax Administration Act, it is the President who will appoint and dismiss members from the Tax Appeal Tribunal.
The four members whose dismissal has been recommended are;
1. Mohamed Munawwar Ali, President
2. Hussain Zaidhan Jaleel, Vice President
3. Ahmed Ashraf, Member
4. Khadheeja Naeem, Member
The only member of the Tribunal whose dismissal was not recommended is Ismail Sajid.
The Committee decided not to dismiss him with the belief that he had good intentions behind bringing the matter to their attention.
"It is only with good intentions that a person would have the courage to come out with the issues in an institution like this. Because of the decisions we may make, issues such as this may not be brought to us at all," they said.
The Committee's meetings regarding the Tax Appeal Tribunal were held closed. Members of the committee, as well as their Registrar Abdulla Hilmy, were summoned the committee for questioning. Members of the committee also visited the offices of the Tax Appeal Tribunal.
The committee's finding is the Tribunal has some specific ways through which they decide on matters.
They also found that there was undue use of position by some members, as well as undue enrichment through abuse of their position, which they decided to send to the Anti Corruption Commission for further investigation.
The Committee also found that the Tribunal offices made use of a far larger space than required, and recommended that this be revised so as to reduce the burden on State funds.
They also recommended revising the regulations so that compilation of the bench and presiding member does not rest at the President's discretion.
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