The “outdated” US$1M container scanner purchased by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is known to be “problematic” and will require costly and regular maintenance, according to sources within the agency.
Questions have been asked as to why the machine has not been in operation, months after its procurement, and the discovery of cocaine valued $700M in a container shipped from here to Jamaica has put the operations of the GRA under further scrutiny. After two months of investigations into this incident, charges may soon be instituted against a Customs officer who functions within the Customs Boat House unit of the agency, Stabroek News was told.
Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon had told Stabroek News last week that the scanner will not be operational anytime soon and GRA sources said yesterday that the agency may see difficult times ahead with the scanner as the model is known to be “problematic”. Stabroek News was reliably informed that the United States-based technician returned here last week to repair the equipment and he said the machine would require regular maintenance and repairs which would be costly.
The technician has travelled to Guyana from the time the scanner was procured and brought here. He had supervised and played a major role in the installation of the machine and also trained GRA staff to operate the scanner which is based at the Guyana National Shipping Corporation wharf at Ruimveldt.
This newspaper’s sources said that the technician indicated to the authorities a few days ago that the non-intrusive detection equipment which cost more than US$1M is known to have mechanical and technical flaws as he has been travelling around the world to carry out repairs of a similar nature on machines of the same model.
He said that the company had been manufacturing that type of scanner since the 1980s and the model in question remains secondary to more expensive machines built by the company, RAPISCAN, a company based in Texas in the United States.
On its website the GRA says: “It should be noted that because the equipment is highly sophisticated and complex, the GRA is forced to depend on the supplier of the container scanner RAPISCAN which is US- based to provide the technical support. GRA’s dependence on RAPISCAN has caused some amount of delay in the commencement of scanning for export since the GRA cannot act in isolation of the supplier. The safety of the scanner and safe use of same are high priorities and as such, with the assistance of RAPISCAN, all efforts are being made to ensure there are no compromises.”
According to a GRA source, the technician reported that the machine is known to overheat and break down after scanning less than 20 containers, adding that the machine’s detection capacity was not 100% because it is an outdated model.
Luncheon had cited June as a possible time when the machine could become operational. The GRA has been publishing notices in the daily newspapers indicating that the machine will be operational shortly while notices informing exporters and shipping agents for containers to be scanned before they are shipped overseas, were also published.
Seals
Meantime, Stabroek News was told that the authorities may soon institute charges against an employee who functions within the Customs Boat House unit of the GRA in connection with the Jamaican cocaine shipment in March. Reports out of the GRA are that the individual in question is being held culpable for leaving several Custom seals used to seal containers with the exporter who was in charge of the loading of the container.
Luncheon had said that the overall investigation into the matter which is being spearheaded by CANU was not completed since the person/s who actually placed the illicit substance in the container was still not known.
Sources within the GRA, in addition, are questioning why a manager within the agency, who was responsible for the overall loading of the container, is not being held accountable.
It was noted that the individual was responsible for operations regarding the loading of containers on the day the container in question was packed at the CRL bond at Houston, East Bank of Demerara. While being filled, a source noted, officers of the Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU), the MOU and Customs Boat House were expected to oversee the loading of containers.
However, Stabroek News was told that only the Boat House Officer was sent to the scene sometime later and he was later held culpable for leaving the seals he had in his possession with the broker at the CRL bond.
A reliable source at CANU noted yesterday that while being grilled by officers there, the GRA employee in question declined to answer questions with regards to his refusal to dispatch additional officers to the Houston location when the container was loaded even though more than 10 officers under his control were available that day. He also could not give a plausible explanation as to why he gave the “ok to load” the said consignment, the source noted. According to sources, the questions were deemed pertinent where the investigations were concerned.
A source at GRA noted that on most occasions, brokers would reward the relevant customs officer responsible for the loading of containers financially and according to him, the revenue body had been working unsuccessfully over the years to root out such corrupt activities.
Meantime, this newspaper understands that the GRA has since delegated the procedures regarding the issuance of container seals to officers of the DEU instead of Boat House officers. Reports are that the move followed recent instances where several persons turned up at agencies affiliated with the GRA as well as the Guyana Forestry Commission and the Office of the President with photographic evidence of exporters and brokers having container seals in their possession, a clear violation of the Customs laws.
Several employees of the GRA were subsequently disciplined in this regard while procedures regarding the use of the container seals by the customs officers were restated.
