Mere hours after Ramps Logistics Guyana made a public call for the Local Content Secretariat to provide justifications for its denial of the company’s application to access the local content register, confidential information between the company and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) was leaked to the press.
According to the leaked information, Ramps Logistics – a 49% Trinidadian-owned company – was fined $20 million by GRA for allegedly contravening the Customs Act by a failing to report the departure of a motor vessel, Seacor Mixteca, for which it is the agent.
In addition, the company was asked to show cause why its customs brokerage licence should not be suspended.
However, when contacted, Ramps Logistics’ Chief Executive Officer Shaun Rampersad said that the matter was settled between both parties.
“Due to some miscommunication between the two parties, this incident did occur. We quickly resolved the issue between our lawyers and the legal team at the Guyana Revenue Authority. We are confident that this matter has been settled between both legal teams. We have always been transparent in our operations, and we will continue to do so,” he related.
In a statement issued on Friday, Ramps pointed to the fact that just hours after it hosted the press conference calling for an explanation of the denial of its Local Content certification, articles began circulating referencing the issue with the GRA.
“It is difficult not to associate the timing and publishing of these articles with the Press Conference held to address the concern of our Local Content certification. There will always be dark forces trying to take away from the prosperity of hard-working young people and the nation. We will remain an open and transparent company and do everything possible to make our team proud of the organisation we have all worked together to build,” the company said, before adding that it will always be compliant and continue to work closely with its employees, stakeholders and the government to build a bright and prosperous Guyana.
The GRA traditionally keeps all settlements confidential.
The GRA wrote to Ramps Logistics on January 27, 2022, and the company, through its attorney Mahendra Satram, responded on March 4.
In its letter, the GRA said that Ramps failed to comply with sections 70, 129 and 130 of the Customs Act and that the breaches were of a serious nature. It added that the $20 million settlement was requested in lieu of court proceedings pursuant to Section 271 of the Act.
Additionally, the GRA’s letter requested that the company “provide sufficient justification” as to why its licence to operate “should not be revoked and/or restricted from conducting any customs-related transaction on behalf of any individual/ company.”
In response, the lawyer for Ramps Logistics argued that the breaches were not established. The lawyer added that the company has not contravened Section 70 of the Act since the entry of the vessel was duly reported and the sail report contained no omissions of false particulars.
Section 70 of the Act states “If the master of any aircraft or ship, or his agent, fails to make due report, or if any of the particulars contained in such report be false, such master, or his agent, shall be liable to a fine of one thousand dollars, and all goods not duly reported shall be forfeited unless the omission is explained to the satisfaction of the Comptroller.”
“…even if a breach of S70 is established, the Revenue Authority is only entitled to and empowered by the law to collect a fine of $1,000 and not $20,000,000 as the GRA seeks to levy. The Company/Master of the ship has not contravened S129 of the Act as alleged or at all. The ship in question was not a ship on which any goods were/are to be loaded for export and as such, no entry outwards was required under S129 of the Act.
“The Authority failed to investigate and/or properly investigate the circumstances of this case. An investigation would reveal that the vessel was not in service and was sailing to dock in Trinidad for required repairs. No goods were being exported on the said vessel. The manifest and an examination/entry by the Trinidadian Customs Authorities would verity/confirm this information. Guyana as a signatory to the Caricom Treaty is entitled to this information and established channels are in place to access the information. The items on the vessel and listed in the customs declaration were not being exported and were loaded on a coastal voyage and as such S129 is not applicable. These items were to remain on the vessel and may remain on the vessel for several months before being needed by the FPSO. As you may be aware the FPSO has limited storage capacity and as such the standard operating procedure in the industry is to keep critical supplies on board the PSVs for storage purposes,” the company’s lawyer argued.
Section 130 of the Customs Act states that “The master of every ship to which the provisions of section 129 shall if required, obtain from the proper officer a certificate of rummage in the prescribed form. If he desires to obtain such certificate before the whole of the inward cargo of the ship has been discharged, he shall remove and stow the inward cargo remaining on board such ship in such manner as such officer shall direct in order to enable him to rummage the ship, and after the ship has been rummaged, shall stow the inward cargo remaining on board separately and keep it separated to the satisfaction of the proper officer from any
coastwise or any outward cargo that may subsequently be put into such ship.”
Ramps argued that the certificate of rummage was not required since it is only necessary if cargo was being taken on board for export. As a result, it further submitted that there has been no loss of revenue to the GRA,
“…the fine is only applicable if there is no satisfactory explanation for failure to comply with the said provisions. The company has in all material respects provided the Revenue Authority with a detailed explanation of all the circumstances of this case. The provisions you allege have been contravened do not empower you or entitle you to revoke the license of the agent or customs brokers,” the company’s lawyer said.
The lawyer added that the $20 million was only paid after GRA “unlawfully and unreasonably” withheld clearance for the vessel.
“…the collection of the sum of $20,000,000 from the company is irregular, improper and in contravention of the revenue laws,” Ramps’ lawyer posited.
As such he advised the company to recover the sum.
“We have been instructed to demand of you, as we hereby do, that you return the sum of $20,000,000 to our client within 7 days of the date of this letter, failing which proceedings will be instituted against you to compel the said repayment together with costs and damages. The unreasonable and/or unlawful refusal to grant the necessary clearance for the vessel resulted in a substantial loss of income,” the letter addressed to GRA Deputy Commissioner Jason Moore said.
When contacted, Rampersad would not say whether the company recovered the $20 million from GRA but according to sources close to the investigation, that has not been done yet.
Ramps is the largest logistics company servicing the oil and gas sector in Guyana.
