Two Customs officers were dismissed yesterday and several others have been sent on indefinite leave as the independent probe into fraudulent activities allegedly carried out by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Fidelity Investment intensifies.It is the first shake-up at Customs since the probe was initiated by President Bharat Jagdeo last month but immediately after the dismissal letters were served, angry GRA staff numbering around 20 erupted calling it “unfair and an attack against the lower level staff”.
The two officers were dismissed for their alleged involvement in the Polar beer scandal with Fidelity that led to 73,000 cases of the beverage being smuggled into the country without the required duties being paid.
Stabroek News was shown the dismissal letters yesterday, which said the men contravened the GRA Schedule of Disciplinary Measures No.5. Inefficiency and Incompetence; and No 16. Failure to obey known rules and code of conduct, conflict of interest and post employment codes.
A cashier at Customs House was also dismissed on Thursday for her alleged involvement in the deal with Fidelity but she was told to resume duties yesterday after cashiers at the office called a sick-out in protest of her being fired.
Disgruntled but relieved to be back on the job the cashier told Stabroek News last night that she was targeted unfairly since according to her, her job description did not include a lengthy scrutiny of documents to see what has been forged.
Since the probe got underway, 17 GRA staff including four key ranking officials have been sent on indefinite leave. The two officers dismissed yesterday were among those sent on leave and in the past week, they had been grilled about the role they played in the scandal.
One of the officers said he was fired because his signature appeared on the invoice that was prepared when the shipment of Polar beer entered the country. He said a team of custom officials would usually inspect the shipment and according to him, several persons did and what they saw was aerated drinks. He stated yesterday that if the Polar beers were there, they were not visible at the time they checked.
What happened next was that they drew up the invoice for aerated drinks and the taxes were paid on the shipment. He said that a member of the task force set up by the President had been pressuring him to confess to clearing the shipment of beer and passing it off as soft drinks in exchange for not handing him over to the police.
“I don’t see how they can dismiss me and the investigations are ongoing. They have to complete the investigations then start firing people not before. I am being made a scapegoat,” he said.
A key Fidelity figure has already spilled information to the task force, fingering top GRA officials in the scandal and revealing how the company had entrusted a Customs broker with $142 million to get the shipment off the wharf. The man reportedly came up with a deal with Customs to clear the Polar beer under the category of ‘assorted soft drinks’, which draws less tax than beer. The sum of $32 million was then paid to revenue body in taxes and another $70 million was paid to a top customs official who allowed the shipment to leave the wharf and who is also alleged to have facilitated documents being falsified for Fidelity.
GRA staff, who assembled at the Guyana Public Service Union yesterday, expressed anger over how the investigations are being carried out and they are threatening to take serious action if more persons are fired. They said the individuals conducting the probe have not shown professionalism and that staff in the lower tier of Customs were being targeted, “while the one with the information and who benefited from the deal are being spared”.
