-in wake of US sanctions
Government yesterday signalled that it would be implementing stricter regulatory mechanisms to prevent gold smuggling that would include higher fines and forfeiture of assets, in the face of United States sanctions against one of the country’s largest gold dealers, and a government official.
“So we may want to take what we do at Customs now and introduce it here for the evasion of gold, not just pay the forgone [earnings] but you also have to pay a huge penalty which is in multiples of the evading taxes. So, if you get caught there is a big risk, first of all you get charged under an Act that has severe penalties…” Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday warned at a press conference at the Office of the President.
“Secondly, there is a big financial risk because you’ll have massive fines. And thirdly, we may have to start exploring what we did under the laws dealing with money laundering or drug trafficking – forfeiture of assets,” he added.