A number of fiscal commentators have said the apparent dilly dallying and reluctance by Government to find ways of settling businessman Abdul Karim Batatawala and other suppliers’ straight forward and verifiable claims by various suppliers of goods and services to Government will in the end prove to be extremely costly to Government in terms of interest charges and ancillary legal costs.
The commentators have made these remarks in light of revelations that, despite some of the claims being cleared by various investigative state bodies such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the Fiscal Police, Government is still seen to be dragging its feet in doing the needful to resolve such claims.
The commentators have said that, whilst it may appear to be politically expedient to refuse or to show reluctance to settle such claims in the immediate term, such refusal and reluctance is potentially exposing Government to the likelihood of eventually having to pay even more hefty sums of money (because of interest and legal charges) to the concerned suppliers in the medium to long term since the claims will still need to be settled at some point.
“Should the tax payer be made to foot these needless extra charges just because a few decision makers, for reasons known only to themselves, have decided not to honor Government’s contractual obligations?”, one of the commentators has asked.
It remains to be seen how long Government will continue to display this costly behavior with regard to the various claims currently before it.
