The Finance Ministry said this afternoon that contrary to what was claimed yesterday by Alternattiva Demokratika leader Harry Vassallo, according to the Registry of Companies the company Abelweld Ltd still existed and Dr Vassallo was shown as being its majority shareholder, director, company secretary and the person legally responsible for the company.

It was not the case, therefore, that Dr Vassallo no longer represented the company, as he claimed yesterday.

Therefore, the ministry said, when Dr Vassallo informed the VAT Department that he was no longer responsible, he was misleading the department.

The ministry said a Presidential pardon could not be given to Dr Vassallo because he was refusing to fill in the 37 VAT returns covering the period for which the courts found him to be legally responsible and guilty.

Dr Vassallo, however, was still in time to regularise his position by filling in the VAT forms for the years at issue so that his plea for a pardon could be considered.

The ministry also published the report of the VAT Commissioner on the case.

In his report the VAT commissioner said Dr Vassallo registered the company for VAT purposes on September 29, 1994. The company did not submit VAT returns between August 1, 1999 and July 31, 2005. It sent one return in 1999 but failed to file the other 37 due to date. After several warnings, legal action was instituted by the police.The police sued Dr Vassallo as the person responsible under the law and he was arraigned on November 2002, convicted and fined Lm100 and Lm6 for every day that he failed to settle the fine. Since Dr Vassallo did not follow the court’s orders, fresh legal action was instituted in November 2005. Dr Vassallo was again found guilty and fined a total of Lm3,954 covering the period January 2003 to October 2004. Dr Vassallo was arraigned again in May 2005 on similar charges, convicted once more and again fined Lm100. Since he did not submit the returns, Dr Vassallo was again arraigned in September 2006 and fined Lm2,100. In January 2006 Dr Vassallo requested a Presidential pardon but since the returns were still not submitted, the request was denied.The comissioner said DrVassallo was still a major shareholder of the company Abelweid Limited as well as director and legal representative.

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