Containers report still to be submitted to revenue authority board
Stabroek News
October 21, 2002
The board of the Guyana Revenue Authority is prepared to take action on the recommendations of a highly critical report into the release of seventeen containers, once it is formally presented to the directors, a source close to it says.
The report was prepared by deputy customs commissioner Jameel Baksh at the request of the then Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Edgar Heyligar. The containers were consigned to S Ahmad, who earlier this year was granted permission to operate a bonded warehouse at Albert and Charlotte Streets. The Commissioner, Customs and Trade Administration, Lambert Marks used discretionary powers, granted under Sections 125 and 270 of the Customs Act, to authorise the clearance of the containers before the arrival of documents.
Baksh concluded among other things that the current system is fraught with irregularities and regulatory deficiencies and is a recipe for corrupt practices.
Stabroek News understands that Heyligar did not forward the report with his comments and recommendations to the board before he withdrew his services recently from the Revenue Authority as its Commissioner-General. When he left, Heyligar said he was doing so because of his unwillingness to be associated with corruption.
However, Stabroek News also understands that the board has decided that when the report is formally presented it will make whatever recommendations it deems necessary.
A public spat erupted between Heyligar and Marks over the container issue and
Marks took exception to the fact that a junior officer had been instructed to lead the investigations. The use of the junior officer was justified on the ground that it was the system that was being investigated and not Marks himself. The public disagreement between the two is formally before the board of directors, which is yet to take a position on the issue.
Some observers have expressed surprise that the report has not yet been formally presented to the board or that the board has not yet ensured that it has been submitted considering the departure of Heyligar.
Stabroek News has been unable to obtain a comment from the Ministry of Finance on the issue despite several calls to Minister Saisnarine Kowlessar's office.