The Inland Revenue Division of the Ministry of Finance has embarked on a campaign to nab several T&T drug lords who have been raking in millions over the years while hiding behind legitimate companies as law-abiding businessmen.
By Peter BalroopThe CIU, whose members were trained by US Internal Revenue Service agents, has been compiling information on the drug lords from informants, who have been blowing the whistle on their bosses.
?The CIU tracks people who are avoiding paying their taxes...anyone we suspect is earning income and not declaring it,? Carol Solomon, head of the IRD?s taxpayer relations unit, said yesterday at the unit?s St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, headquarters.
She said CIU members strove to keep their identities secret because their lives could be in danger due to the nature of their work.
Solomon said members of the IRD?s enforcement unit have often been threatened in the course of their duties.
?Some of them have had their vehicle tyres slashed,? she said
Solomon said the CIU?s probe into how drug lords accumulated their millions was much more dangerous.
She said that in a sense, the CIU was functioning like Crime Stoppers, based on information proffered by anonymous tipsters.
?It is just that we don?t pay a reward,? Solomon said.
?People have come in off the streets with information on persons whom they suspect to be drug lords.
?Some of them write to the CIU...they don?t even have to sign their names, but we investigate the information they provide, all under highly-confidential cover.?
However, Solomon refused to divulge what the favoured lines of business the suspected drug lords used to launder their illegal profits.
?I don?t want to go home before my time,? she said.
?The man in charge of the CIU was careful not to say when we heads of department were briefed.
?He didn?t specify what line of business the suspects were hiding under.
?All we know is investigations are going apace and some prosecutions could start before the end of the year.?
Solomon said the IRD?s legal department was working hand in hand with the CIU.
?We are talking the law here and no case has been filed yet. We have to get all the information,? she said.
That drug lords were the CIU?s initial target was just incidental, she added.
Solomon said the majority of the information the unit obtained was of legitimate businesses being used as fronts by clever criminals with access to the latest technological innovations.
She said the CIU members knew the danger was real.
?We don?t know who we are dealing with, how they will react when they realise their finances are under investigation,? she added.
Solomon said the IRD was calling on all employees who believed that Pay As You Earn and health surcharge deductions were being taken from their salaries and not being remitted in timely fashion to the division, to come forward with the information.
?The IRD?s field unit would address your concerns,? she said.
