In Today’s meeting, the committee discussed the Committee report on the issue sent to committee regarding Tax Appeal Tribunal. After discussing the committee decided to submit the report to Majlis for consideration with three proposals from the Committee. The proposals are as below;

1.  In the issue submitted to the committee, there had been allegations on misused of Tribunal Members position and allegation of corruption against some members, therefore committee proposes to ask Anti-Corruption commission to investigate these allegations.

2.  Since the President and Vice President of Tax Appeal Tribunal has agreed in the committee meeting that the Tribunal is functioning in more space than is required, and since the Committee’s visit to the Tribunal has also shown that a larger portion of space has not been used, the committee proposes that the Tribunal should be asked to coordinate with the authorities in this regard to minimize the financial loss to the state.

3.  As per the existing regulation of the Tribunal regarding the selection of the bench and the appointment of a person to preside over the bench, the president of the tribunal has the power to recommend who will be on the bench depending on the nature of the case. Since there seems to be a possibility of public questioning regarding as to cases will be dealt fairly. Therefore, committee proposed the regulation to be amended.

This was proposed by Holhudhoo Constituency Member AbdulSattar Mohamed and seconded by Kurendhoo Constituency Member Shamin Habeeb.

The voting details for this proposal are as follows.

Vote: To submit the report on Tax Appeal Tribunal to Majlis with 3 proposals from the committee

Total no. of members: 11

No. of members present: 8

Voted Yes: 7

Holhudhoo Constituency Member Abdul Sattar Mohamed, Faresmaathodaa Constituency Member Ashraf Rasheed, Kurendhoo Constituency Member Shaamin Habeeb, Kendhoo Constituency Member Mauroof Zakir, Thimarafushi Constituency Member Ahmed Riyaz, Hulhudhoo Constituency Member Mohamed Shahid, North Feydhoo Constituency Member Ismail Nizar.

Voted No: 0

Abstain: 0

Total Voted: 7

Eligible to Vote: 7

No. of votes required to Pass: 5

Vote Result: Unanimously passed.

Regarding this issue, committee also decided to send a recommendation to the President stating that President of the Tribunal Mohamed Munawwar Ali, Vice President Hussain Zaidhaan Jaleel, Member Ahmed Ashraf and Member Khadheeja Naeem has been found to have neglected to discharge their duties as members of the Tribunal, with reference to the Article 59 (a) (4) of the Tax Administration Act, and committee decided to send a recommendation to the president to dismiss those members from their positions as members of the Tribunal. This was proposed by Holhudhoo Constituency Member AbdulSattar Mohamed and seconded by Kurendhoo Constituency Member Shamin Habeeb.

The voting details for this proposal are as follows.

Vote: To send a recommendation to the president to dismiss 4 of the Tax Appeal Tribunal Members

Total no. of members: 11

No. of members present: 8

Voted Yes: 7

Holhudhoo Constituency Member Abdul Sattar Mohamed, Faresmaathodaa Constituency Member Ashraf Rasheed, Kurendhoo Constituency Member Shaamin Habeeb, Kendhoo Constituency Member Mauroof Zakir, Thimarafushi Constituency Member Ahmed Riyaz, Hulhudhoo Constituency Member Mohamed Shahid, North Feydhoo Constituency Member Ismail Nizar.

Voted No: 0

Abstain: 0

Total Voted: 7

Eligible to Vote: 7

No. of votes required to Pass: 5

Vote Result: Unanimously passed.

Then the committee discussed the issue sent from Holhudhoo Constituency Member Mohamed Shahid regarding the removal of Prosecutor General. Faresmaathoda Constituency Member Ashraf Rasheed proposed to discussed this issue in the committee and this issue should be sent to the Parliament under section 232 (a) of the Standing orders of Parliament. This was seconded by Holhudhoo Contituency Member AbdulSattar Mohamed. Since none of the members objected to the proposal, the motion was put to vote.

The voting details for this proposal are as follows.

Vote: To send a recommendation to the president to dismiss 4 of the Tax Appeal Tribunal Members

Total no. of members: 11

No. of members present: 8

Voted Yes: 7

Holhudhoo Constituency Member Abdul Sattar Mohamed, Faresmaathodaa Constituency Member Ashraf Rasheed, Kurendhoo Constituency Member Shaamin Habeeb, Kendhoo Constituency Member Mauroof Zakir, Thimarafushi Constituency Member Ahmed Riyaz, Hulhudhoo Constituency Member Mohamed Shahid, North Feydhoo Constituency Member Ismail Nizar.

Voted No: 0

Abstain: 0

Total Voted: 7

Eligible to Vote: 7

No. of votes required to Pass: 5

Vote Result: Unanimously passed.