Photo: Darren Handschuh

Akbal Mund wants to assure the people of Vernon he is not withholding taxes or responsible for any illegal tax maneuvers.

The Vernon mayor said he did receive a summons for court from the Canada Revenue Agency and his lawyer appeared for him Thursday morning to respond to the dual charges of failing to comply with the income tax act.

The issue, Mund said, is some paperwork that was not filed in relation to his business holdings.

“It has not got anything to do with not paying taxes,” Mund said. “I have some paperwork that needs to be filed. My accountants will have that done within the next few weeks. It's got nothing to do with personal taxes. It's from 2012 and 2013 Mund Holdings.”

Mund said he wants to make sure everything is “on the up and up” and admits paperwork may have been missed, but it is a situation he will have quickly remedied.

Mund is schedule to appear in court again on Nov. 19, but he's confident the matter will be settled well in advance.

“Once they (CRA) get the information, I'm sure they will be satisfied and everything will be fine,” he said.

Vernon's mayor was scheduled to make a brief appearance in provincial court today to face two charges of failure to comply with income tax act.

It was the first appearance for Akbal Singh Mund who is serving his first term as the mayor in the North Okanagan community.

Mund was elected as mayor in 2014 and is a well-known figure in the community, being involved in many charitable events.

He was the owner of the local Wendy's franchise and a driving force behind the Wendy's Dreamlift Day that raised money to send children with mental and physical challenges to Disneyland for a day.