By Iana Seales
Expected to appear in court today on a polar beer valuation charge, Joshua Safeek of Fidelity Investments yesterday accused the GRA of conducting a campaign against him because he was exposing corruption within it and he denied that his company ever bribed customs officials.
Safeek’s allegation against the Guyana Revenue Auth-ority (GRA) at a press conference yesterday was later rejected by its Commissioner General, Khurshid Sattaur.
Safeek, who has been embroiled in several controversies, said that a trend of bogus charges being filed against him and the company continues since those slapped against them in April. He charged that Commissioner General of GRA, Sattaur is seeking “to tie a noose around my neck and shut me up for exposing what he has been covering up and protecting”
Though he declined to comment on several allegations raised at a press briefing that Fidelity held yesterday 
Sattaur told Stabroek News last evening that he stands resolute in eradicating corruption at customs and that he would not even contemplate reaching any settlements for corrupt practices that ultimately compromise government’s revenue. He pointed to the current independent probe that is being conducted within the GRA saying that it was initiated to wipe clean wrongdoing if it exists at any level.
According to Sattaur, the current investigation initiated by President Bharrat Jagdeo on April 10, 2008 is seeking to make customs more accountable and to bring more transparency to the system of revenue collection. He noted that it is time for the investigating team to release its report and restore public confidence in the revenue body, adding that they have come under heavy scrutiny within recent months.
He said too that there are provisions in place under which the GRA carries out its mandate and enforces the law when necessary.
“On a daily basis we carry out evaluation exercises and we have been enforcing the law when we had to as in the recent case involving Fidelity Investment where we had certain evidence but it is for the court to hear the case and pronounce on it, not for GRA nor I to disclose what this evidence is but we have faith that the courts will vindicate our evidence”, Sattaur added.
Further, he said that he found it unfortunate that Safeek would make statements to the media that neither him nor the revenue body can he trusted and urged Fidelity to produce any evidence they have of goods being smuggled into the country without duties being paid so that an investigation can commence. Sattaur added that it is also unfortunate that the source of the statement is someone whose integrity is questionable. The April 10 investigation ordered by President Jagdeo came after months of wrangling over a shipment of polar beer which was imported by Fidelity in January, 2008. It was alleged that a large quantity of beer was passed off as soft drinks. This led to charges and counter charges between the two sides and eventual court action. The charge to be read today stems from another shipment last month and is related to the CIF value that was quoted for it.
Silence
At a press briefing called by his company yesterday at Cara Lodge in Quamina Street, Director Safeek accompanied by his team of attorneys Hukumchand; Kamini Parag and Sonia Parag, told reporters that the new charges filed against him are merely to silence him on the revelations he has made about corruption at customs. He said that polar beer has been smuggled into Guyana for years and has been clearing customs wharves without the relevant duties being paid.
“We have estimated that close to $1B dollars per month have been slipping by the revenue body for years and this is what” Customs is trying to cover up and protect customs officers for, Safeek charged. “We have exposed them without linking any names directly with the scam but we are being constantly targeted”, Safeek stated.
Since providing police with a statement earlier this year on the corrupt practices, he said, persons have approached him to retract the statement which he has refused to do, and additionally, his life and his employees’ lives have been threatened.
In a prepared statement issued to the media, Fidelity said that customs accepted its declarations that were made on a new shipment of beer that came into the country two weeks ago and that $8.6M was paid in taxes. Safeek pointed to the word `accepted’ that was written on the documentation it received from customs to clear the shipment.
But the company was subsequently barred from uplifting the beer which Fidelity said points to a high-handed and unilateral approach being taken against it. They stated that initially they were asked to pay US$2.15 CIF per case on the previous shipment of beer in January which led to the still ongoing investigation but were eventually forced to pay $US3.75 following instructions to Sattaur from someone high up in government. According to Fidelity, the higher rate was not to be standard since GRA had indicated that every subsequent shipment would be evaluated independently and thus a lower price based on the CIF value could be accepted.
Fidelity said it lost $25M on the first shipment of beer it imported from Venezuela after the price was raised to US$3.75. It added that customs had already accepted duties on this new shipment and that the new charges that were struck up in relation to false documents has no merit and are merely malicious. Customs sources say several documents tendered by Fidelity for the shipment last month cast doubt on whether they had indeed originated from the Venezuelan producer. One contact telephone number in particular inscribed on the documents was believed to be a giveaway along with the name of the Venezuelan producer.
Hukumchand who is the lead counsel for Fidelity said yesterday that it is not their business to ventilate matters publicly that are before the courts but noted that since GRA decided to go that route by way of a story that appeared in yesterday’s Guyana Times, they decided to meet the press. He said they all expressed shock at comments allegedly made by GRA prosecutor attorney, Gino Persaud, to the newspaper prior to the charges being read in court.
He said that Fidelity recently met with GRA’s top brass and during that meeting nothing was said about the company making false declarations to customs yet charges were soon after prepared against Safeek.
No bribes
Safeek declared that at no time did his company pay any bribe to the GRA for any shipment of polar beers imported. He reiterated that it is all part of the vindictive acts being taken against them by customs.
But a top GRA official said last evening that the revenue body has no reason to be malicious to Fidelity noting that if they did then the first shipment of beers that came in earlier this year would have been left in the bond to expire and not handed over to the company after a compromise was struck.
The official said customs has no other aim but to do its business which is to ensure that its obligations are met for the budget and that it protects the revenue that is being collected for the country and the public by extension, adding that a rate of $US 3.75 was fixed for beers imported by Fidelity, yet the company is saying otherwise.
According to Safeek the customs broker, who police arrested in March after news of the polar beer scandal involving the company and GRA officials broke, did work for Fidelity on the first shipment but that no money was given to him to pay any bribes. When pressed on the broker he declined to comment further and only stated that they did not import any soft drinks as stated by the broker.
Safeek said too, that if the GRA would only work with the company more revenue can be collected since they have a plan for a multi-million dollar new polar beer investment. He displayed the plan yesterday.
Though Safeek denied that Fidelity ever bribed customs, the company is embroiled in a scandal with custom officers following the first shipment earlier this year. GRA had moved against the company initially and sealed off its bond at Broad Street but had to surrender control of it following a High Court decision. They later instituted charges against Fidelity that are still before the courts.
Fidelity is alleged to have bribed custom officials to allow the shipment to be cleared from the wharf by making a huge payout through a customs broker. The broker is still being questioned by police and five GRA employees have been sacked. Fidelity has gone unscathed since.
Two months
More than two months after the major investigation began into allegations of bribery at customs involving senior officials and Fidelity the public is still in the dark about the progress and the results of the probe.
What started out as an intensive probe expected to sink its teeth deep into a string of reported shady dealings at the Customs and Trade Administration (CTA) of the GRA has barely scratched the surface of the administration, according to reports.
Auditor General (ag) Deodat Sharma, who is heading the task force set up by President Jagdeo in April to crack wide open the underhand activities of several customs officials, was unavailable when Stabroek News sought a comment on the bribery probe last week.
Since April 28, the employees sent on indefinite leave have been reporting to the police on a weekly basis; in some instances twice a week as instructed and while some have been questioned on very little, others have been asked about their bank accounts and fortunes among other things.
It was back in April when a senior Fidelity official made bombshell revelations about an organised scheme to smuggle Polar beer into the country triggering the probe and resulting in several senior customs officials being sent on leave.
“I am at the point where I am tired of running to the police to clear my name and showing up when asked only to be told to come back. I am sick of it and I believe everyone is as well, it is just silly,” an employee recently said.
The employee was not exaggerating about the regular visits, which have reportedly frustrated the majority of persons sent on leave. The sequence is as follows though a few of the dates in a particular week might have been slightly different.
April 28: The employees were asked to make themselves available for questioning and some were grilled.
May 5: The employees return for questioning with several more interrogated on their alleged involvement in the scandal.
May 13: They make another appearance and are questioned.
May 20: A few more persons are questioned and they are sent away.
May 27: Several persons are questioned and a few houses are reportedly searched.
June 2: Some are questioned about their role in the Polar beer scam.
June 13: Another appearance but they are told to come back, no one is questioned.
June 17: They are told to come back.
June 19: They are told to come back.
June 26: They are told to return.
July 4: Told to return.