Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur says discussions with Suriname to combat cross-bordering smuggling have been ongoing and he is looking forward to a proposed visit by that country’s Customs Chief.
Smuggling is rampant across the Guyana/Suriname border, Sattaur said on Tuesday, while noting that the issue has been high on the agenda as talks continue. “All manner of things are smuggled across that border, from alcohol to cigarettes and foodstuffs. You name it, they bring it across the border,” Sattaur told Stabroek News.
The Surinamese newspaper de Ware Tijd (dWT) reported on Tuesday that Suriname’s Customs Chief August van Hamme is expected to visit Guyana at the end of this month to discuss the smuggling problem.
Sattaur, when contacted about the visit, expressed surprise that it was already in the press because “talks are still ongoing.” However, he referred to it as a “reciprocal visit,” while saying that both countries are interested in finding solutions to the border problems. No specific date has been identified for the visit, Sattaur noted. He explained that the details are still being worked out. But the agenda is clear, he continued, and he noted that a range of issues are to be addressed when Suriname’s Customs Chief arrives here.
Sattaur stressed that “the illegal activities” at the border have been a recurring problem for the GRA and he recalled that some time ago he instructed officials at customs to engage their Surinamese counterparts on the issue. “The talks have been ongoing and we have discussed strategies in the past, but this problem is not going way. What we can do is keeping working on the strategies and GRA is committed to that. We have a duty to the people of this country, not to businesses,” he added.
According to the report in the Suriname newspaper, Guyana made a request for van Hamme to visit at the end of this month to discuss problems at the border. van Hamme told dWT: “They have indicated that it often happens that only part of the goods that have been reported by Suriname for transit actually arrives in Guyana. It is suspected that those goods that have not arrived are somehow returned illegally to Suriname. Some goods also end up in Guyana, where duties are avoided.”
The report said that an increasing loss of revenues for Guyana’s treasury would be the reason for the head of the Guyanese revenue authority to send the invitation. “We will discuss this matter and determine which methods we will use to combat this,” van Hamme added. He also warned that there could be increased smuggling when the duties on alcohol and cigarettes will be doubled, as the government has announced. “This only makes smuggling more attractive,” he said. He also pointed out that this is a global phenomenon between neighbouring countries. Smuggling is also a problem along the border with French Guiana, but to a lesser extent.
And in its editorial in Tuesday’s issue, dWT said “Customs should cooperate with the police to prevent smuggling.
The anti-social behavior of malicious elements cannot be tolerated any longer and must be dealt with and punished harshly.
Hopefully, the talks between Suriname’s Customs and the Guyanese authorities are the beginning of a hard battle against smuggling of all kinds of products and goods.”
