Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 02, 2019 News
Atlantic Fuels Inc., a company with close links to Dr. Richard Van West-Charles, was made to pay adjusted taxes last year, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) says.
During a press conference yesterday, GRA’s Commissioner-General, Godfrey Statia, was questioned about investigations involving the fuel import company which is being accused of under-invoicing its shipments, causing Guyana to lose millions of dollars in taxes.
Dr. Van West Charles is the current Managing Director of the state-owned Guyana Water Inc.
The son-in-law of former President Forbes Burnham, he is also a director of Atlantic Fuels.
The business address is his Meadowbrook, Georgetown home.
The GRA had been reportedly investigating cases of under-invoicing, based on Customs documents by Atlantic Fuels.
Van West Charles was summoned to the GRA headquarters after the story broke in Kaieteur News a few weeks ago.
According to Statia, yesterday, it is unfortunate that the attention was on Van West Charles as he “may” not have been the only person involved.
“We have been carrying out exercises on oil companies which have yielded billions of dollars in revenues. I do not know who was responsible for leaking that invoice but that would have been an invoice that we would have caught and we would have made him pay,” the GRA head disclosed.
GRA would have stumbled on other instances where Customs documents incorrectly (maybe deliberately too) processed shipments of fuel as liters instead of gallons, another way the state lost tens of millions in taxes.
“We do not care where they get the fuel from, once you pay your taxes,” Statia stressed.
Explaining how GRA assesses, the Commissioner-General said that they would go back to the period in question and used the world spot prices.
Fuel rackets would have been impacting on operations of legit import companies like the Guyana Oil Company, SOL and Rubis.
“You need to have a level playing field; if not you drive GuyOil and other companies out of business…I can assure you that anybody we have caught we have made them pay their rightful taxes. I am not in position to tell you as I am bound by rules of confidentiality.
“I can assure you that what you see there (Atlantic Fuel) was already remedied long before you see it in the press.”
There was growing evidence a few weeks ago that along with under-invoicing, there are indications also that fuel importers have been colluding with Customs brokers and officers to record lower volumes.
The attention on the troublesome fuel trade has been making media headlines time and time again because of wrongdoings that have been surfacing.
Also a Director with Van West Charles is Lear Goring, who was the Debt Recovery Manager of GWI until he was let go because of an undisclosed criminal background.
Goring, according to Customs records, remained in business contact with his former GWI boss, as they both sat as Directors for Atlantic Fuels.
The fuel import, storage and wholesale licence was controversially approved in late 2015, around the same time that Van West Charles was hired as the new chief of GWI.
There has been intense scrutiny about the procedures.
It emerged that applicants for licences have to show evidence of storage capacity, safety arrangements, environmental permits and a host of other requirements.
At the time of approval, it was unclear whether Atlantic Fuels, a new company, had shown a track record in the fuel business.
What is known is that others were applying and are not getting through.
Atlantic Fuels received its licence in just over month, a rapid approval compared to the months that others have applied and had to wait.
According to officials, it is not unknown for the Guyana Energy Agency to grant licences and then these are rented out to importers by the holders of those licences.
According to insiders, GRA has been discovering incidents where fuel shipments, which came in gallons were recorded in the tax system as liters.
This plus the under-invoicing aspect has been helping to dent GRA’s collections.
The fuel trade is a billion-dollar trade in Guyana, accounting for one of the country’s biggest spending.
With regards to Atlantic Fuels, two transactions specifically brought it back into the limelight recently.
One of them was a shipment purchased in the free trade border area at Morawhanna, North West District, Region One.
It appears that Atlantic Fuels, like a number of other operators, have been capitalizing on the fuel there, which on average cost just US$0.50 per liter, a tad cheaper than Trinidad and other places.
However, according to Customs documents, Atlantic Fuel presented GRA with a Commercial Invoice dated September 25, 2018, which used a CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) price of US$0.25, half of the normal price.
The amount of fuel was about 270,000 liters (71,326 US gallons).
Atlantic Fuel declared that the cost was US$67,500, which caused GRA to collect only $14M in taxes.
On the Customs documents, the address was listed in Meadowbrook, the same address as Van West Charles.
The correct taxes should have been double that amount, which is almost $28M in taxes.
The other shipment was in September/October last year by the same company, which was brought on a fuel ship, named “Century”.
The shipment of 639,000 liters (170,000 US gallons) was supposed to cost US$379,100.
However, Atlantic Fuel’s Director, Lear Goring, filed documents, which pegged it at US$159,750.
The state reported losses of $32M in taxes because of that.
In Customs terms, the deliberate declaration of prices below what was actually the value or what was paid is known as under-invoicing.
Please share this to every Guyanese including your house cats.
Apr 19, 2024
SportsMax – West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews delivered a stellar all-round performance to lead her team to a commanding 113-run victory over Pakistan Women in the first One Day...Kaieteur News – For years, the disciples of Bharrat Jagdeo have woven a narrative of economic success during his tenure... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]