Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 22, 2008 News
As the shake-up at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) continues, three more Customs officers have been sent home on leave.
This time the employees are from the Customs Office at Charity, Essequibo Coast, and officials are saying that it is not linked to the larger investigation triggered by the Polar Beer but rather to wrongdoings at that location.
According to reports, the three Customs officers, among them one supervisor, were sent on leave after a GRA team was dispatched to Region Two several days ago.
Sources are saying that the investigations were triggered by reports of bribery and wrongdoings at the Charity location.
According to one report, there are allegations that the Customs officers were systematically involved in schemes to defraud Guyana of revenues by allowing some vessels to pay less than what was due. It was also alleged that the officers were taking “kick-backs”.
Sources said that Customs officers are seen drinking with vessel owners and would from time to time allegedly receive imported goods as payments.
“On any given day that a vessel is being cleared at Charity, you can see the officers with lots of buckets, basins and detergents and other things and later drinking at shops next to the Customs House and elsewhere. Tell me if that is not corruption?” one resident queried.
This newspaper understands that several complaints were made to GRA and other authorities and an investigative team comprising a GRA Deputy Commissioner went to Charity recently and conducted a probe.
The Charity probe by GRA investigators came on the heels of a wide-scale investigation ordered by President Bharrat Jagdeo into GRA and the assets of its officers.
The three brings to 19, the number of GRA officers sent on leave. The investigations are being conducted by a team comprising officials from the police, the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Auditor General.
GRA staffers are being questioned about containers brought in by Fidelity Investments and Kong Inc last year, importers of Venezuela’s Polar Beer that was cleared by several GRA officers.
Investigators believe that the containers which came in last year were filled with Polar Beer, but the GRA officers, including members of the Internal Affairs, Enforcement, VAT and Customs, allegedly colluded to forge documents to show that, instead, there were soft drinks in the containers.
Sources close to the investigations said that GRA officers are unable to agree what kind of soft drinks were in the container and could not find any of the ones that were claimed to be in the containers anywhere in Guyana.
The GRA officers were also questioned about their bank accounts, vehicles and other assets owned, this newspaper was told.
According to the dismissal letters, the officers were guilty of gross negligence, among other things, and were guilty of causing substantial loss of revenue to the GRA because of their actions.
Some of the GRA officers have been working with Government for as many as 14 years. Recently, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) called for the immediate re-instatement of two Internal Affairs officers who were fired on April 25. About five weeks ago, President Bharrat Jagdeo ordered a full blown probe into possible corruption involving civil servants, and their assets, after the possible scam unearthed.
President Jagdeo, during a press conference, had also made startling revelations, painting a picture of elaborate schemes by public servants, including Customs officers and businessmen, to defraud Government of millions of dollars. According to the President, the investigations will go beyond the Fidelity Investments fiasco.
When announcing the probe, President Jagdeo said that it came in the wake of reports that a number of people involved in revenue collection had, over time, secured millions of dollars from large businesses operating in Guyana. Initial reports were that those involved collected some $150 million from Fidelity Investments in the wake of the recent seizure of a quantity of Polar Beer.
GRA had seized the Polar Beer, because it had evidence to support its contention that Fidelity Investments had set out to defraud the government of some $350 million in revenue.
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