With hundreds of vehicles not returning to their country of origin after crossing into Guyana, GRA Commissioner-General, Godfrey Statia on Monday told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that they have been working to put systems in place to address the issue.
The problem is most prevalent at the Guyana-Brazil Border Crossing as the Auditor General’s 2018 report pointed out that close to 2300 vehicles could not officially be accounted for.
PAC member and Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill queried what systems were in place to monitor the situation. It was explained that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has implemented a camera system and has been updating the police on a monthly basis on vehicles that are not permitted to stay in the country.
The Commissioner-General told the PAC that the Authority has been involved in raids with the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit and has been verifying the registration of vehicles.
He explained to the PAC that in many instances they had found that the number plates of the vehicles had been substituted or the address given is fake. He stated that whenever they come across such cases they seize the vehicles and have them returned to Brazil as in most instances they had been stolen.
According to Statia, the porous border also poses a challenge as some vehicles exit through the `backtrack’ and are thereby not recorded as having returned to Brazil.
The Auditor General in his 2018 report said examination of the Incoming & Outgoing Foreign Vehicles and Passengers traversing the Defined Area in Region 9, revealed that there were 29,689 foreign vehicles entering Guyana and only 28,933 vehicles exiting Guyana resulting in 766 vehicles not being accounted for at the time of audit in August 2019. The average number of foreign vehicles entering and exiting Guyana per day was eighty-one.
Similarly, in 2017 there were 30,669 foreign vehicles entering Guyana and only 29,023 vehicles exiting Guyana. The average number of foreign vehicles entering and exiting Guyana per day during the year 2017 was eighty-four.
The GRA at the time had explained that the recording of the movement of vehicles at the location was a manual process and as such, there were some human errors with the recording.
Questions were asked as to whether the vehicle colour, driver’s licence number and vehicle chassis number were recorded, to which the agency responded in the negative.
However, Statia explained that while a thorough check is not made at the border, they have improved the monitoring system at Linden where detailed checks are made on the vehicles and persons coming through from Lethem.
Edghill said that he was concerned over the fact that a large number of vehicles are not returning to Brazil. He posited that the whereabouts of the vehicles being unknown poses a threat to security.
It was disclosed that at the Guyana-Suriname border, the situation is different and the problem occurs less frequently.
Statia nonetheless explained that in instances where they have vehicles that are pending longer than their permitted time, they had asked the owners to either register the vehicles here and pay the necessary taxes or they would seize the vehicles.
He noted that a few business persons operating in Guyana from Suriname were required to register and pay the duties here.
During the 2018 review period, the Auditor General said some fifty-three motor vehicles overstayed after entering via the Guyana-Suriname border crossing.
It was revealed that there were 2,545 vehicles entering Guyana and only 2,492 vehicles exiting. Similarly, in 2016 and 2017 six and three motor vehicles overstayed, res-pectively. However, there was no evidence to support approval of requests for extension of stay.
At the time it was explained that a legitimate excuse for overstaying was the suspension of the Canawaima Ferry Service.
