Amendments to Finance, Miscellaneous Provisions Bills approved

The amendments made to the Finance Bill, 2021 and the Miscellaneous Provisions (Special Reserve Police and Police Complaints Authority) Bill, 2020, in the Senate, were approved in the House of Representatives on Friday.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert said the amendments dealt with clarifying the details of the tax amnesty being extended between July 5-September 17, the dates to which it applied, and the fact that it applied to both taxes and returns, and taxes under the Miscellaneous Tax Act.

He reminded that once these dates had passed, the ability to have fees and penalties waived expired.

On the police-related Bills, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said the amendments specified that the Act applied to the special reserve police and the municipal police service.

He said the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) now had increased power to request information.

“The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) can now provide the Police Complaints Authority with statements and actions taken. This is in addition to the Commissioner of Police and the assistant Commissioner of Police. The amendments now give the PCA the authority to make requests for information from the Police Commissioner, assistant Police Commissioner, and the DPP if they have not received such in a certain time frame.”

The amendments to both Bills were approved with no objections from the Opposition.