SaafNations ( A Global Forum for Citizens of Humanity )

By Stabroek staff July 23, 2010 in Letters Dear Editor, In 1968 Samuel Huntington argued that by greasing the wheels of the economy and so removing bureaucratic and other practices that impede investments and development, political corruption is efficiency-enhancing and inevitable (“Political Order in Changing Societies”). However, notwithstanding Huntington and others, national societies caught in the spiral of massive political plunder (see following table) rejected this view. Estimates of Funds Embezzled by Heads of Government Heads of Government Funds Embezzled Mohamed Suharto, President of Indonesia, 1967-98 US $15 to 35 billion Ferdinand Marcos, President of Philippines, 1972-86 US $5 to 10 billion Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire, 1965-97 US $5 billion Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria, 1993-98 US $2 to 5 billion Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia/Yugoslavia, 1989-2000 US $1 billion Jean-Claude Duvalier, President of Haiti, 1971-86 US $300 to 800 million Alber...

A Bay of Plenty company director was today jailed for four years jail for tax evasion of more than $700,000 Harbhajan Singh Kahlon was earlier found guilty in Tauranga District Court of 23 charges of GST-related tax fraud and later admitted a further 46 charges of tax evasion involving PAYE. The Inland Revenue Department said in a statement today that Kahlon's business was to supply labour for vine management, squash picking and kiwifruit picking in and around Tauranga, Te Puke and Palmerston North. The scam involved Kahlon, as head contractor and director of his company Kalgidhar Enterprises, engaging 39 sub-contractors as "invoice writers", to supply him with false documents to falsify GST returns filed with the IRD. Falsified documents helped to create a paper trail when Kahlon and his company claimed extra tax credits, as well as evading the assessment and payment of GST by submitting invoices for work purported to have been sub-contracted out when it was not, or ...