Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry last week Friday sentenced three men, convicted of possession of over 400 cases of uncustomed polar beer, to jail for a year and ordered them to pay a fine of triple the value of the items amounting to $6.5M.
Shyan Ramdat called ‘Horseman’, Rafeek Khan and Mahadeo Singh were found guilty of being knowingly concerned in carrying goods with intent to defraud the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) of duties contrary to the Customs Act and were handed the sentences by the magistrate at the Providence Magistrate’s Court where the matter was heard.
According to the facts of the case on August 2005 the men were found in possession of 496 cases and 12 tins of uncustomed polar beer.
A press release from the GRA said that the court found all the defendants guilty of the offence and ordered a fine of treble the value of the goods, imprisonment for a year and forfeiture of the goods. The fine amounted to $6.5M.
The GRA said that the ruling was handed down on December 21 after a period of arguments over two weeks and the reopening of the case at the request of the defence to lead further evidence. The defendants, who were on bail, were taken into custody immediately after the ruling.
The GRA’s case was presented by the agency’s prosecutor, attorney-at-law Gino Persaud while attorneys-at-law Vic Puran, Humkum-chand and Ronald Burch-Smith appeared for the defendants.
The release added that GRA’s Commissioner-General Khurshid Sattaur is pleased with the court’s ruling and “has observed that the penalty of imprisonment is noteworthy since it has been quite some time in Guyana that the courts have ordered imprisonment for a smuggling offence against the Customs laws”. It said that Sattaur hopes that other magistrates would take note of the seriousness of such offences under the Laws of Guyana.