A prominent attorney-at-law has told Stabroek News that his client was legally entitled to duty-free concessions but was "forced" to pay somebody in one of the government ministries for the speeding up of her application.

According to the attorney, the client, whom he declined to name, has made an arrangement for amnesty with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). He said too that one of the conditions of the arrangement with the GRA was that the individual was restrained from speaking to the media.

When contacted on Tuesday, Commissioner-General of the GRA Khurshid Sattaur declined to comment. He called the issue "sensitive" and one that he did not want to compromise by speaking about it.

On Monday last, the amnesty was supposed to have come to an end, but a GRA official told Stabroek News that persons were still being allowed to visit the GRA to "make a deal".

Meanwhile, the police on Friday said that persons to whom remigrant letters were issued are being contacted for questioning as the investigations continue. The police said too that at the end of the investigation a report would be done which would be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice before charges could be made. But a source close to the police expressed concern over the amnesty, which the GRA announced two weeks ago, saying that the government would be losing much needed revenue in the form of fines. He said it would also hamper the police investigation since persons are now contending that they were entitled to the duty-free concessions but had to pay to speed up their application.

In seeking to justify the amnesty, a GRA source had told Stabroek News last week that it was more feasible for the GRA to attempt to recover the revenue by way of taxes rather than by forfeiture of the vehicles, which has to be done through the courts. The GRA source also told Stabroek News that a court order would have to be obtained and the GRA might have to wait for years before the case is decided; and if the importer wins the case, the GRA would have to return the vehicle to the owner, who could then claim for damage to property and wrongful detention of property. The source said the GRA could not both impose penalties and collect taxes on the vehicles ensnared in the scam.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon said on Wednesday that there is no "blow-by-blow" account of the investigation, which is ongoing. He said too that the investigation was not at the point where charges could be laid.

Luncheon said he knew the GRA, in accordance with the Customs Act, the Consumption Tax Act and the Tax Act, is pursuing the recovery of revenue lost during the irregularities that led to the granting of remigrant status to persons not so entitled.

He said: "We are responsive to the concerns raised by the Auditor-General in furtherance of the investigation."

Of the 86 duty-free letters that the Ministry of Finance issued in August last year, only 31 were found to be properly granted. The persons to whom the other 55 letters were issued were found to have breached some aspect of the guidelines for the issuing of remigrant status and duty-free letters. A preliminary report by the GRA was handed to the President, resulting in persons from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs being sent home pending the outcome of the investigation. Secretary to the Treasury Neermal Rekha was one of the persons sent on special leave. According to Luncheon, Rekha was sent on special leave and not interdicted from duty; a process that he said was clearly spelt out.