-Lawrence sees attempt to ‘hoodwink’ on permits for immediate delivery
Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority Khurshid Sattaur, came in for severe criticism from members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parlia-ment after failing to represent the agency at a meeting of the PAC on Monday.
A team of officials of the GRA appeared before the committee as the agency and officials of the Ministry of Finance were grilled on aspects of the Auditor General’s report for 2006. But the team, which comprised five persons, was ill-prepared for the forum as they sat mostly in silence as the PAC members perused the AG’s report. Chair of the PAC, Volda Lawrence stated at the forum that the committee will be writing a report on the issue.
The GRA in a press release on Tuesday in response to a report on the hearing in the Kaieteur News said “The Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur was represented by five senior personnel representing Customs and Trade Administration, Tax Operations and Revenue Accounting. GRA cooperated fully with the Auditor General and had provided written responses on all the queries in the 2006 report which were also in the possession of the PAC. These officers are all qualified and were capable and prepared to provide clarifications on the written responses to the audit queries.”
The statement also said that the PAC had requested further information pertaining to parts of the report and the GRA is in the process of preparing responses. It said that GRA has made prompt responses to all queries raised by the PAC and the Auditor General over the years.
On Monday, the team, after being questioned on what aspects of the 2006 report they were there to answer and whether there was a meeting prior to them appearing before the committee, told the PAC that they had not had a briefing prior to the meeting and that they were only able to answer queries regarding their respective departments.
One member stated that he had no knowledge of the AG’s report for 2006 and that he was not prepared to answer any questions relating to the report.
Among the issues raised by the PAC members with the GRA team was the issuing of PIDs (Permit for Immediate Delivery) by the GRA which one member of the team stated was issued on the discretion of the Commissioner General. Committee member and PNCR-1G MP Winston Murray questioned whether there were guidelines relating to the issuance of PIDs since according to him; it should not be “a willy-nilly” issue where issuance of the waivers is concerned. This was among several questions which Murray noted the Commis-sioner General of the GRA (or the relevant officials within the agency) should have been able to answer had he been present at the meeting.
Hoodwink
According to the AGs report for 2006, of the 1032 PIDs issued by the GRA, 17 out of a total value of $2.832B remained outstanding at the time of reporting. The PIDs, according to the GRA’s response to the AG’s report, were issued to agencies of the government, totalling in excess of $2B. According to Lawrence, the GRA was apparently trying to “hoodwink” the committee, as the list of agencies which benefitted from the waivers included Aroaima Mining Company, Didco Trading and the Guyana Power and Light Company. She said the 2007 AG’s report listed another set of entities which benefitted under the exemption. Lawrence referred to the issue as “absolute misinformation” by the GRA.
PPP/C MP Bibi Shadick stated at Monday’s meeting that “some hard questions needed to be answered by the GRA”, as she pilloried the agency over the loss of some $365,000 which was paid to an individual in 2000 for the purchase of three printers which were never delivered to the entity since the individual had migrated. Finance Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Neermal Rekha stated that the printers were being sourced to furnish the finance department of the GRA.
Speaking in her capacity as a taxpayer, Shadick stated that she needed to know what happened to the monies used to purchase the printers adding that it was one of several answers which Sattaur should have been there to give.
Murray queried whether there was a contract signed between the GRA and the businessman, stating that there should have been one in which the scheduled date of delivery would have been inscribed. He described the situation as negligence on the part of the GRA in following up and recovering the monies expended in the transaction.
The mum GRA team was also questioned on the purchase of equipment for public relations work valued at some $2.112M, which the AG’s report stated was purchased without adherence to Tender Board procedures and which according to the GRA, was purchased urgently.
Murray stated that there is a procedure which has to be adhered to when such purchases are made, adding that if the agency cannot comply with the requirements of the Tender Board, it should not pursue a course of action unilaterally, and in contravention of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board Act.
As regards loss of revenue encountered by the GRA after a recent $300M fraud in which employees of the entity were able to ‘trip’ the recently installed TRIPS System implemented by the GRA, Hema Khan, one of two officials representing the GRA at Monday’s forum who were able to pronounce on issues discussed, stated that the entity is working to improve the system to close loopholes.
Questioned by the PAC on what steps have been made to recover the losses, Khan stated that the entity is working to centralize its system, implement Standard Operating Procedures, and to have the Bank of Guyana provide daily statements of transactions made with the entity.
Khan explained that persons within the entity, which included an Information Technology employee and cashiers, were able to manipulate the system to carry out the fraudulent transaction.
She said the GRA later determined that the transactions were fraudulent, and three staff members were subsequently dismissed and the matter is engaging the attention of the DPP and the police.
Shadick questioned how were the employees able to make changes to the system. “What type of system allows for so many changes?” she asked, adding that the system should have been able to be alerted when the fraudulent transactions were made.