Ministry of Finance and the Public Service
Audit Committee Performance Evaluation guideline (ACPE tool)
Kingston, Jamaica: Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Officers of the Revenue Protection Department (RPD), with assistance from the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), last week, arrested and charged Rhemalee Wint-Lewis, Tax Auditor of the Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) for breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act.
Mrs. Wint–Lewis was arrested on Thursday September 14, following a joint operation betweenthe RPD and MOCA. She was offered bail in the sum of $400,000 and is to appear in the Manchester Parish Court on Wednesday October 4, 2023.
The allegations are that in July 2023, the accused informed a taxpayer that there was an audit being conducted on their business, which showed a preliminary assessment in the amount of $20M. It is further alleged that she asked the taxpayer for a meeting to discuss the matter in private. During this and subsequent meetings, Mrs. Wint-Lewis offered to reduce the audit significantly by various means. She reportedly demanded $3M and a Honda CRV as payment.
A September 14 date was set for a meeting with the taxpayer to ensure that the motor vehicle could be transferred without being traced and to collect a portion of the requested monies. A sting operation was set up by the RPD and MOCA, where the accused was held with the money in her possession.
In response to the action, Tax Administration Jamaica states that it strongly supports and promotes integrity and accountability in keeping with its core values.
Commissioner of the RPD, Cranston G. Morgan, while reiterating the policy of the Department not to comment on active cases, stressed the importance of partnership and collaboration as critical tools in combatting corruption especially in the revenue service. “The RPD”, he states, “is ready, willing, and able to work with its partners to minimise the occurrences of fraud and corruption and to maximise the ability of the RPD and its partners to cauterise the impact of corrupt actors on the reputation and goodwill of the revenue services”.
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Revenue Protection Department
Ministry of Finance & The Public Service
30 National Heroes Circle
Kingston 3.
rpdinfo@mof.gov.jm
RPD: Protecting the Revenue… Protecting the Future
-end-
The Hon. Nigel Clarke, D.Phil., MP
Minister of Finance and the Public Service
30 National Heroes Circle, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 932-4656 / 4660 / 4655
Eml: opedjamaica@gmail.com
The Government of Jamaica is pleased to announce that it has secured US$480 million in the Government of Jamaica’s first structured securitisation transaction in international capital markets. The transaction involved the securitization of the portion of the Norman Manley International Airport revenue that is due to the GOJ.
This statement is in response to a media story today.
The multi-billion Stocks and Securities Limited (“SSL”) fraud, which dates back to at least 2010, and which only came to light in January 2023, was a punch to the gut for all Jamaicans. The magnitude of the fraud, its duration and the fact that the victims included several elderly Jamaicans, as well a beloved icon, shocked the nation. I shared and still share those emotions.
The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) is implementing a Reverse Income Tax Credit (RITC) which will provide a grant of $20,000 to registered taxpayers who earned less than 3 million dollars during year of assessment 2023. The initiative was launched at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston on Wednesday, October 2, 2024.
The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) concluded the Agreement on items carried over from the implementation of the new Compensation Structure for the Public Service with the signing of a Heads of Agreement on September 12, 2024.
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