Vehicles seized by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) are disposed of in a “fair and consistent manner,” Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia said yesterday as he dismissed allegations that such vehicles were fraudulently transferred to persons sympathetic to the government.
“I have said it before and I repeat, politicians need to refrain from statements which impugn the character of public servants and Agencies that serve the public under the guise of purported parliamentary privilege,” Statia said in a statement in which he responded to claims that were made by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.
Jagdeo recently claimed that the GRA has seized and disposed of hundreds of luxury vehicles that never made it to the register for want of entry, were never auctioned, but were fraudulently transferred and found their way into the hands of people sympathetic to the government or “given to family and friends,” resulting in billions of dollars in lost revenue.
However, Statia characterised such claims as misleading. He said that while he would prefer not to respond to statements made by politicians, the claims made by Jagdeo are “misleading, filled with innuendos and allegations of fraud, creates public mischief, and are meant to tarnish the efforts at rebuilding the reputation” of the GRA.
Even as he highlighted that over the years, the revenue netted from the disposal of seized vehicles has increased substantially to the hundreds of millions, Statia explained that there were generally two categories of vehicles disposed of by the GRA: Want of Entry vehicles and Seized vehicles.
Want of Entry vehicles are disposed of through sealed bids after the said vehicles are placed in the Official Gazette and subsequently advertised if claims were not made during the mandated claim period. Statia observed that sealed bids were introduced in late 2016 for the very reason of collusion and revenue loss.
He said that interested bidders are given the opportunity to examine the assets before submitting the actual bids. The award goes to the highest bidder once the bid is equal or above an amount sufficient to pay all duties, expenses, rent and charge.
However, if the bidder fails to honour his/her obligations as the awardee, the motor vehicles may be re-advertised or the Com-missioner-General may dispose of same in accordance with Section 90 (4) of the Customs Act, which provides that “If any goods on being offered for sale as aforesaid cannot be sold for a sum sufficient to pay all duties, expenses, rent and charges, the same may be destroyed, or otherwise disposed of as the Com-missioner-General may direct,” the statement said.
“Disposal of Want of Entry or Seizures are done, at all times, in a fair, impartial and transparent manner with the Internal and State Auditors playing their respective roles. Consequently, the GRA welcomes any audit by the Auditor General who audits such transactions on a yearly basis, and report his findings to the Public Accounts Committee,” Statia declared.
Regarding disposal of seized vehicles, he said that under sections 218 and 224 of the Customs Act, the Commissioner-General may, given the nature of the offence, allow the individual in question to pay a fine in lieu of court proceedings or he may dispose of the seizure as he deems fit accordingly.
Statia pointed out that in some instances, seized or Want of Entry vehicles are disposed of by way of assignment to other state entities such as the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Prison Service, the Guyana Defence Force, the Minis-try of Health and other departments that require resources for effective functioning.
“This has always been the practice and the exercise of such discretion is not unique to Guyana,” he said.
Statia further pointed out that notwithstanding the wide powers given to the Commissioner-General to dispose of seized vehicles as he sees fit, “such disposals are done in a fair and consistent manner to ensure maximum collection of revenues by the state.”
In this regard, he highlighted that despite the numerous assignments to government agencies, the revenue collection for such seizures and want of entries increased from $154.5 million in 2013 to over $750 million for this year so far. For the other years, the figures were $185.7 million in 2014, increasing to $210.3 million in 2015, then to $268.5 million in 2016, further increasing to $349.2 million in 2017, and $646.2 million in 2018. For this year, to date, $750.1 million has been netted.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo had cited the case of two vehicles seized in Lethem. He had claimed that while the vehicles were seized in May, their registration to “a senior PNC official” was backdated to March.
Statia, however, said that the process of registering motor vehicles is fully automated and cannot in any way be manipulated and “backdated” as alleged.
In giving some details on the case, he said that the vehicles were manufactured over eight years ago and were seized from a repeat offender in mid-December 2018, and not in May 2019.
“They were forfeited in February 2019 in accordance with section 225 of the Customs Act for failure to produce the pertinent customs declarations and supporting documents,” Statia said, while explaining that Section 225(2) states that all seizures lawfully made under the customs laws or any other law shall be deemed to be taken and condemned and may be sold or otherwise disposed of in such manner as the Comptroller may direct.
Subsequently, the GRA found it prudent to invoke the relevant provisions of the Customs Act and disposed the motor vehicles accordingly in an attempt to prevent a total loss of revenue. Statia said that due to age, location and condition with exposure to elements of weather, the vehicles had deteriorated significantly which may have caused mechanical and electrical damages rendering them unserviceable.
“The Authority will not disclose any additional information in relation to this subject, since it has strict duty of confidentiality and must adhere to those rules in accordance with the provisions of the Revenue Authority Act, Chapter 79:01,” he said.
In highlighting the increase in revenue garnered over the past several years from the disposal of such vehicles, Statia said the public should judge where the billions went and whose family and friends benefitted from 2013 to present.
He said that Jagdeo, as Leader of the Opposition, has a moral and legal obligation to ensure the safety or well-being of others and follow the laws of Guyana by not encouraging officers of the GRA to break their strict duty of confidentiality.
The GRA chief also called on Jagdeo to “honour his tax obligations like every other citizen.”
“He is reminded that contrary to his earlier statements in the press that he is not required to, he has an obligation to file his tax returns and declare his income from all sources rather that sheltering under the veil of presidential immunity. Section 13 of the Income Tax Act clearly states that only the official emoluments shall be so exempt,” Statia pointed out.
