Melonie Coye to Get $3 Million from G.O.B.

The Government of Belize has been dealt another blow, on the heels of a recent loss in the Supreme Court where Justice Courtenay Abel ruled in favor of Titan International Securities awarding the company eight point nine million dollars.  This time however, it is a lawsuit filed by Melonie Coye and Money Exchange International Limited against the Commissioner of Income and Business Tax, the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Attorney General of Belize.  The court case followed the handing over of three point two million dollars to the Department of Income Tax at the request of the former income tax commissioner.  The F.I.U. surrendered the sum of money after Coye, her father and their company were cleared of money laundering charges in the Court of Appeal.  That protracted legal battle dates back to late 2009.  Despite the charges being overturned in the high court, the funds were confiscated on account of alleged taxes that were never paid to government while Money Exchange International was in operation.  A subsequent judicial review before Justice Courtenay Abel, in respect of the tax assessment and collection processes, concluded on January twenty-first.  The settlement of the matter includes a declaration that the assessments raised by the commissioner were unlawful, irrational, arbitrary and in excess of the Commissioner of Income Tax’s jurisdiction.  Equally, Justice Abel declared that an additional sum of a hundred and sixty-three thousand dollars demanded of the Director of the F.I.U. for interests was unlawful.  While the claim against the F.I.U. was dismissed, it was found that Money Exchange was only in business for one year, thus its tax liability is well below two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.  The difference from the three point two million dollars seized will have to be returned to Melonie Coye.