A trade union to protect the rights of small and medium businesses has been established in the Maldives.
The Maldives Trade Union (MTU) held a meeting on May 5 to select members to its governing board. Founder Fuad Zahir was automatically appointed as MTU’s president. An estimated 180 businesses have joined the union, local media reports.
Zahir, who heads Treasure Biz International, called the Maldives’ nascent tax system “failed” and said there was a culture of increasing taxes in the country.
Zahir and the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) had previously clashed over his company’s refusal to register for the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
On receiving an audit notice in 2012, Zahir told the MIRA over the phone that it could not conduct an audit of the company and claimed the law authorizing MIRA to conduct audits were against the constitution, a 2013 statement from MIRA said.
MIRA then sent in auditors to seize documents from Treasure Biz in December, 2012. Zahir filed a case to retrieve the documents at the Civil Court, but MIRA returned the documents in January 2013 before a ruling was issued.
An official from the authority told Minivan News today said they had asked the Prosecutor General to file tax evasion charges against Treasure Biz.
The two Vice Presidents of MTU are Shamha Trader’s owner Abdul Rasheed, and Venus pvt ltd’s owner Ali Hussein.
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