As investigations into the smuggling of gold here continues, the United States is preparing an assistance package after it was approached by the Guyana government for help.
“We will be helping the government with that as much as they want us to and have been asked and we are trying to put together something that will provide them some assistance,” US Ambassador Perry Holloway told Stabroek News in an exclusive interview on Friday.
Government and law enforcement officials have said that there has been major smuggling of gold to the US and other countries, including Brazil and an investigation is now underway that encompasses collaboration between Georgetown and Washington on tracing shipments of gold and their declaration in the US.
Holloway also noted that gold smuggling is being investigated by different agencies here.
“There are many investigations by many entities into the smuggling of gold out of Guyana. I know that the government and many different ministers have asked for assistance with that respect and we are going to be working on that,” he stated.
He pointed out that while most of the time the smuggling of gold is primarily carried out by persons who want to evade taxes, there are also times when gold and narcotics smuggling are interlinked. In this regard, he believes that since the US has provided much training on how to deal with smuggling, the knowledge gained can be carried over and used to help in gold smuggling investigations here.
“I can say that we have provided lots of training and assistance over the years in how to deal with smuggling because smuggling gold or drugs there are many common factors sometimes the same routes and sometimes the same people even. Sometimes they even mix gold with drugs…” the envoy stated.
Head of the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) Assistant Commissioner Sydney James had told Stabroek News that there is evidence of a large-scale network involving several locally-registered mining companies in the smuggling of gold out through the country’s major ports. “Based on information gathered we suspect a number of major networks/individuals are engaged in this practice… there are hundreds of people… some are well-established businesses licensed to export gold,” he said.
Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman, who has responsibility for natural resources management, also told this newspaper that after the APNU+AFC government took office in May it found evidence of rampant gold smuggling, particularly to Brazil, Suriname and the United States and has made tackling it a priority. “There was gold smuggling when we came into office and we found it was quite extensive. We decided to make it priority,” he said, while adding that the issue is of serious concern as every bit of ore or gold that leaves Guyana undeclared means less revenue for the country.
Gold declarations and earnings have been on a downward spiral since last year, following a record high in 2013. In 2009, gold declarations were 305,178 ounces, while in 2010 declarations rose to 308,438 ounces. In 2011, gold declarations amounted to 363,083 ounces, increasing to 438,645 ounces in 2012.
In December of that same year 476lbs of gold was stolen at a Curacao port from a Guyana-registered vessel, the Summer Bliss, when it was raided by armed gunmen, moments after it moored on the Caribbean island. This fuelled speculation that the gold might have been smuggled from Guyana.
From the inception, observers had pointed out that the crew members were pivotal to the investigation into the origin of the gold but the government here seemed uninterested in gaining access to them. The boat was last seen in Guyana’s waters prior to the heist.
Although a team was sent to the Dutch island by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to conduct investigations into whether the gold originated from Guyana, no new information was forthcoming from that visit.
Last month, government stated that it might reopen the Curacao gold heist investigation after it studies a report on the three-year-old incident but that they have not yet been able to access the document.
The US Ambassador said that while he has no direct knowledge of the Curacao gold heist and its investigations it would not be hard to determine if over 476lbs of the precious yellow metal came from this country as scientific testing will find this easily.
He said too that while there is the issue of gold smuggling there are many legitimate miners. “There are plenty of people in the gold industry that are doing the right thing but there clearly is a problem of smuggling gold,” he said.
