A flood of luxury vehicles on the roads prompted a government decision to probe the period 2010 to 2014 to test whether there was an abuse of duty-free concessions to remigrants, sources say.
Following the discovery of abuses, more charges are expected to be laid against persons since implicated in the remigrant duty-free scam at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) which is suspected to be bigger than the one that occurred in 2003 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At the moment, the Auditor General’s Office is still combing through the records of duty-free concessions which were granted from as far back as 2010 in an attempt to detect irregularities.
Based on what this newspaper was told the probe involves not only remigrants, but GRA staff and persons who are suspected of being beneficiaries of the fraudulent scheme.
Auditor General Deodat Sharma when recently approached by the Stabroek News indicated that he could not disclose information since the investigation was an active one. This newspaper had requested information as it relates to the number of persons implicated and the quantum of vehicles involved; to no avail. “It [the investigation] is ongoing,” he said repeatedly, adding that his office is looking at “several persons” who may have been participants of the scam.
He explained that it was the GRA, through Com-missioner General Khurshid Sattaur, that requested his office to conduct an investigation. He said the period under investigation spans from 2010 to 2014 and that the year 2013 is currently being looked at.
Sharma stated that two reports on the investigations done so far have been handed over to the Board. Asked about the release of the information in those documents, Sharma said they may be included in his annual report.
Efforts to get information from Sattaur were futile as according to his office he was abroad and this newspaper was told that another effort can be made this week.
Meanwhile, a source told this newspaper that the scam is huge and involves more than the four persons who will appear in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court tomorrow [Monday] on tax evasion charges. “People are making it seem that it is just the four of them but it’s a lot more people. They are just a small piece of the pie,” the source stressed.
Kaieteur News owner Glenn Lall and his wife Bhena along with remigrant Narootandeo Brijnanan and his wife Gharbassi are accused of being involved in the racket which saw millions of dollars in duties on two luxury vehicles not being paid. The Lalls of Lindley Avenue, Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara are jointly accused of two counts of having knowingly dealt with goods, with intent to defraud the revenue of duties, while they along Brijnanans face two counts of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of import duties of Customs.
The charges stated that the two couples between June 18, 2013 and Septem-ber 21, 2013 together with others unknown at Lot 200-201 Camp Street (GRA’s headquarters) were knowingly concerned, aided and abetted each other in the fraudulent evasion of the import duties of customs due and payable to the GRA on the two vehicles.
As it relates to the Lalls, the charges stated that between June 18, 2013 and August 30, 2014 at Lot 110 Regent Street and at Lot 24 Saffon Street, both Georgetown addresses they knowingly dealt with goods with intent to defraud the revenue of duties for two Lexus vehicles with registration numbers PRR 8399 and PRR 8398 contrary to Section 218 (d) of the Customs Act Chapter 82:01.
Lall has since said that there is no evidence to support the allegations and more so that he was being deliberately targeted in an attempt to muzzle him and his newspaper’s efforts to highlight issues affecting the Guyanese public. He described the attack on him as political.
The remigrant couple moved to the courts after their vehicles were seized and acting Chief Justice Ian Chang had directed the GRA to show cause why its decision to seize the two vehicles should not be quashed on the grounds that it was unlawful.
Millions lost
The source indicated that the two Lexus vehicles at the centre of the scandal involving the Lalls and the Brijnanans represents over $100 million in taxes lost. “Could you imagine the extent of this thing if you calculate based on the number of other people implicated?” the source said.
The sources added that the ongoing investigation is an attempt by the government and by extension the GRA to recover millions of dollars lost as a result of this scheme.
Former auditor general Anand Goolsarran, in his Stabroek News column, had said that the scheme appears to be a worthwhile and beneficial one. He questioned if the scheme offered the desired value for money, while noting that the concessions can be abused given the absence of effective monitoring.
The GRA in a press release last month had warned it would do everything possible to protect the integrity of the duty-free remigrant scheme.
It said that in the case of remigrants, it is the norm for them to provide the necessary proof of the use of their assets prior to their remigrant status being obtained. This is apart from such items being registered legally in their name. The GRA said one such proof was the presentation of insurance documents affirming the use of their vehicle or other large capital items. The remigrant seeking the concession would also have to show that he or she is the holder of a valid driver’s licence.
According to the agency, it has recently been brought to its attention that a large number of remigrants, having returned to Guyana from their sojourn overseas, are not keeping for their use, the assets that are presumably their property acquired while living abroad.
The GRA, the release said, holds the view that this is highly irregular and advises that this will in no form or shape be condoned. It was clearly stated that the concession is granted for the specific use by remigrants and should not be transferred, leased or sold for a period of 3 years after one returned to take up residence in Guyana as a bona fide remigrant.
Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett told a section of the media that the ministry had been forced to revoke the remigrant status of several persons under the programme, since it discovered that they were using the scheme to bringing in all manner of luxury vehicles and other items and not really resettle in the country.
According to the media report, the minister said the probe was to focus on that aspect of the alleged fraud; however, it has expanded to include whether persons are actually living in Guyana after attaining remigrant status.
‘Fancy vehicles’
According to the source it was the sudden appearance of an unusual amount of ‘fancy vehicles’ that started raising eye brows. The source insisted that it was the presence of these luxury vehicles and nothing more which sparked the investigations. A trip around the city would reveal several such vehicles, including Hummers.
Stabroek News was told that it has been a current trend for remigrants to bring in vehicles for people under the pretext that they belong to them. According to the source, customs staff are not being overlooked as it is suspected that both senior and junior staff members may be embroiled in the scam.
The source said too that it is suspected that most of the vehicles being brought in as part of the scam are luxury vehicles which makes the situation worse as they attract more duties than the regular ordinary vehicle.
Perdessa Dundas was slapped with 54 forgery and corruption transaction by an agent charges, over her alleged involvement in the 2003 Ministry of Foreign Affairs remigration scam,
In January 2005, acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan released Dundas on her own recognisance after she was slapped with 42 counts of forgery. It was alleged that Dundas on various dates in 2003, with intent to defraud, forged Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minutes in favour of several persons, purporting to show that they were signed by the then minister Rudy Insanally.
Then in June 2005, 12 more charges were added: two counts of corrupt transaction by an agent and ten counts of forgery. She had appeared before Sullivan and was released on $10,000 bail. Prior to these two sets of charges, Dundas together with another Ministry of Foreign Affairs employee Simone Hinds was charged with corrupt transaction and forgery. They were also accused of taking huge sums of money from persons as payment for the preparation and processing of duty-free concession letters. The case was heard by Magistrate Maxwell Edwards and they were both later acquitted.
When the scam was detected many persons from both the foreign affairs and finance ministries fell under suspicion.
Then in 2012, a similar scam erupted at the GRA but it had to do with duty-free concessions for local persons. Based on what this newspaper had gathered back then, one of the two junior officers implicated had admitted forging at least 20 duty-free letters for expensive vehicles and the taxes lost ran into tens of millions. Three other employees were subsequently identified as masterminds. Information was that the scam might have been running for some two years.
The duty-free letters were purported to have originated from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission as well as the Ministry of Agriculture.
