Payments are currently being made by the security firm in charge of safeguarding the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) warehouse over two months after the firm had accepted full liability for $6 million in foreign liquor that was stolen in May, head of GRA Khurshid Sattaur has said.
The GRA had said in a press release issued on May 28, that approximately $6 million in foreign liquor was stolen from its warehouse and surveillance footage had implicated members of the PGS security firm guarding the facility.
The liquor was discovered missing on May 13 but the GRA only disclosed the theft on May 27, more than two weeks later.
In a statement, the GRA had said that the discovery was made by officers of its Law Enforcement and Investigation Division (LEID) during a routine inventory exercise, which led to the immediate launching of an investigation on May 13.
“As a result of the discovery, surveillance footage was reviewed and has revealed that officers of the security firm contracted to provide twenty-four hours security to the said warehouse were very much involved in the reprehensible act,” it said.
“From all indications, this incident was orchestrated utilizing the cloak of darkness in an effort to avoid detection of the activity and the identification of the perpetrators. Preliminary investigations have revealed that no current employee of the GRA is involved in this incident,” the GRA had added.
When contacted last week for an update on the matter, Sattaur informed Stabroek News that payments are currently being made based on arrangements between the two entities.
However, when questioned if he is aware of any charges likely to be laid, Sattaur clearly stated that GRA is only dealing with the firm involved in the matter while those dealing with the employees and charges are the police. As such he was unable to provide an answer.
Meanwhile, continuous efforts made to contact Chief Executive Officer of PGS for a comment on the matter proved futile.
