Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur said yesterday that some of the persons from the duty-free vehicle scam have paid their taxes and that the investigation is still ongoing.
And to guard against future irregularities, the GRA has set up an Internal Affairs Unit to deal with matters of corruption, he said.
He told Stabroek News that so far a number of vehicles have been seized, but he would not disclose that number. He said some owners are helping the police in their investigation. Stabroek News was reliably informed that the police have only three of the 'remigrant' vehicles in their custody.
When asked how soon the investigation would be complete, Sattaur cited the police investigation that is still in progress.
In March, he had announced an amnesty for persons to bring in their vehicles and avoid prosecution. But since then the GRA has been silent on the state of the investigation or the number of persons that have brought in their vehicles. So far there has been no word on the investigation of the forged letters that would have been issued prior to August 2003, which President Bharrat Jagdeo had ordered.
According to a report from the GRA in March, only 31 of 86 letters issued to remigrants in August last year satisfied the criteria for remigrant status and as such, duty-free concession. A number of persons from the ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs were sent on leave pending the outcome of the investigations.