Deputy Commissioner of the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) Law Enforcement and Investigation Division (LEID) Fitzroy Corlette has denied that he acted in an inappropriate manner in relation to a vehicle owned by Brian “BK” Tiwarie.
A May 30th, 2017 report in the Kaieteur News claimed that internal meddling at GRA led to the highly questionable release of the armour-plated Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) over two weeks ago.
The report, headlined “Senior Customs official ordered BK’s vehicle release,” claimed that Corlette reportedly informed members of his department that a matter involving an SUV with inaccurate number plates had been settled before asking if they had heard him “loud and clear.”
In a letter to the newspaper seen by Stabroek News, Corlette stated that the report was calculated to mean that he, as a senior customs official, was less than professional in the discharge of the duties and responsibilities attached to his office, which was furthest from the truth.
“Every single word in relation to me is inaccurate,” he told Stabroek News before explaining that he was ready to take legal action if the newspaper did not “clarify the inferences, innuendo and/or insinuations contained in or derivable from the article, and with equal prominence, to issue an unconditional apology for the pain suffering, mental stress and anguish occasioned by the article.”
He explained to Stabroek News that officers in his department regularly engage in patrols and on one such patrol received information that there was a 2014 model vehicle with licence plates in the PJJ series. Since that the series was issued long before 2014, the officers attempted to ascertain if the vehicle had been registered. They were unable to do so because it was late on Friday evening and they did not have access to the GRA database.
“I did not learn of this until the Saturday, exactly 24 hours after it occurred, so I could not have told anyone to stand down as reported,” Corlette said.
He explained that on the following Monday, the owner of the vehicle, Tiwarie, who revealed that the SUV had been registered with the GRA, “was informed that we were interested in seeing documentation for the 2014 model vehicle and he provided that on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday the Commissioner General called him in for a meeting.”
Asked if any fine or other sanction resulted from the registration plate of one vehicle being displayed on another, Corlette said that such a matter was not within the purview of the GRA but the Guyana Police Force.
“GRA is concerned with registration; proving that a vehicle was legally imported and taxes on the vehicle were paid, both of which were verified on Tuesday,” he maintained.
