Security camera footage has positively identified guards who participated in the theft of $6m in liquor from the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) Eccles Warehouse and they are now in police custody.
The GRA on Saturday said that the privately contracted security firm, Professional Guard Services (PGS), having received and reviewed the security footage of the activities at GRA’s Warehouse has “positively identified personnel from its service as being actively involved in the criminal act and the suspects have since named their accomplices.” The release said that the personnel were questioned in the presence of their Supervisors, Officers from the Guyana Police Force and staff of the GRA’s Law Enforcement and Investigation Division (LEID). They were subsequently placed in police custody.
“As stated in its previous release, the GRA continues to hold PGS responsible for the loss and is awaiting the necessary response before considering further action. It should be noted that GRA’s Internal Audit Division is currently engaged in a comprehensive audit of the warehouse to determine whether other thefts may have occurred and to ascertain possible weaknesses in the system of internal control that could have contributed to and prevented a more timely disclosure of such occurrences”, the release said.
It added that the external Auditors and the State Auditors have also been briefed of the situation.
On May 13, 2015, during a routine inventory exercise, Officers of LEID discovered approximately six million dollars worth of foreign liquor missing from its Eccles Warehouse Facility.
The GRA made no public statement on this matter until May 28th. It is unclear why this was so and why it had taken so long for the footage to be examined for the identification of the PGS guards.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Association of Private Security Organizations (GAPSO) said it is stunned by the news of the alleged disappearance of the liquor at the hands of Private Security Officers.
In a statement yesterday, it said “The allegation describes an unappetizing culture of greed and betrayal that continues to cast the Private Security Industry in a negative light. The general public rightly expects security officers to hold themselves at a higher standard. This alleged action is an erosion of the public’s ability to trust private security personnel who have taken a promise to protect against such egregious, criminal activity.
“GAPSO stresses honour and integrity in every aspect of our mission and conduct, and the overwhelming majority of Security officers perform their duties with honour and distinction, working tirelessly every day to keep our country safe. GAPSO will not tolerate corruption, abuse or criminal activity within the security industry, and expect all of our members and non-members within the industry to fully cooperate with any criminal or administrative investigations of alleged misconduct by any of private security personnel, on or off duty”.
GAPSO said it is pleased to learn that PGS is supporting this ongoing investigation, so the members of the public can continue to trust in the vast majority of security officers.
