Claim by third party

—(1) If any person, other than the person making default, claims to be the owner of any real or personal property which is levied upon as belonging to a party who is named in the assessment record, such person, or any solicitor on the person’s behalf may file an affidavit in the Supreme Court– (a) specifying which of the goods or lands the person claims as the person’s property; (b) stating full particulars of the person’s title to the property; and (c) stating the value of the property. (2) The Registrar shall notify the Director General to discontinue the levy upon any goods and lands specified in the affidavit until the determination of the issue if the person claiming to be the owner of the property, either at the time of, or subsequent to, the filing of the affidavit, gives security by bond with two sureties to the satisfaction of the Registrar of the Supreme Court in a sum of five thousand dollars conditioned to secure– (a) the total amount of taxes, penalties, costs, and expenses unpaid or part thereof as may be equivalent to the value of the property claimed; and (b) all costs of the legal proceedings incidental to the trial of the issue specified in sub-section (6). 74 CAP. 51 Tax Administration and Procedure (3) A bond under sub-section (2) is exempt from stamp duty. (4) At any time within seven days after receipt of the notification of the levy being discontinued, the Director (a) may abandon the levy altogether; and (b) shall notify the Registrar and the claimant that the levy is wholly withdrawn and that no further legal proceedings will take place. (5) If no notice of abandonment is given by the Director General in the manner provided in sub-section (4), the Registrar shall set the matter down for trial in the Supreme Court not later than four weeks subsequent to security being so given in accordance with the summary procedure of that court. (6) At the hearing, the issues shall be– (a) whether or not the claimant has made out the claimant’s title to the property specified in the affidavit; and (b) whether the value of the property has been correctly stated in the affidavit, (7) Upon the issues being determined, the Court shall order the bond to be enforced or cancelled, as the case may be. (8) Throughout the proceedings in the case of goods claimed, the authorized person by whom levy was made, or in the case of real property being claimed, the Director General shall be the defendant, and all steps may be taken and things done as in ordinary cases before the said court. (9) The defendant shall not be ordered to pay any costs unless the court is of the opinion that the defendant has been guilty of wilful neglect. Tax Administration and Procedure CAP. 51 75