The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ramps Logistics (Guyana) Inc. was yesterday granted bail in the total sum of $500,000 after he pleaded not guilty to 10 charges filed against the company of allegedly making false declarations to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) for a series of duty free imports.
The particulars of the charges, which were read to Shaun Rampersad, state that between the years 2021 and 2022, at Georgetown, the Trinidadian based company made a number of untrue declarations for consideration of customs officer on an application for tax exemptions on several items.
Rampersad, who was arraigned before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court, denied all 10 of the charges and was granted $50,000 bail on each charge. The matters were then adjourned until November 25.
During his bail application for Rampersad, attorney Nigel Hughes argued that his client is not a flight risk and that it was only of recent he had flown into the country to fight for the rights of the company. Hughes went on to say that his client is a prominent businessman who has assets both in Guyana and overseas.
During the court proceedings it was stated that the company falsely declared itself to be the seller of a number of items, such as heavy-duty machines, dehydrated substances and calcium chloride.
GRA had announced that it had instituted charges against the company on October 5, saying that as a result of recently completed investigations carried out by the Law Enforcement and Investigations Division of the Revenue Authority, 10 charges have been instituted against Ramps Logistics (Guyana) Inc., in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Act.
It further added “the investigation determined, among others, that during the period 2021 to 2022, the said company made several untrue declarations to the Revenue Authority.”
In response, Ramps, in a press release, said that “while these charges will be reviewed and responded to by our lawyers through the court system, it is important to note the following: every declaration filed by the GRA is in respect to Duty Free Importations. There are no taxes or duties applicable on the imports and so there is no loss of Revenue to the GRA.”
The company pointed in its release that GRA wrote to it on July 12th, 2022 informing them of an investigation into the alleged false declarations. It then said that on July 25, its lawyers responded to GRA in a letter on why the allegations raised by GRA had no basis in law and clearly outlined the sections of the Guyana Customs Act that they relied on to form their opinion.
Ramps said that although GRA responded some eight weeks after, the response never addressed any of the legal points raised by the Ramps’ lawyers.
