I am offering more evidence of corruption
Freddie Kissoon column
Kaieteur News
January 13, 2007
How often do we see custom officials on the wharves or in the evaluation department of the GRA being charged with corruption? How often do we see foreign firms being hauled in front of the GRA for blatant defrauding of the Treasury of this country?
There has been sufficient evidence available to investigate two logging companies that are in clear violation of the conditions under which they agreed to invest in the forestry sector. Why is the relevant authority silent on naked corruption in this country?
In December, I supplied the Government of Guyana with proof of corruption, through this column. I showed where a certain businessman on the lower East Coast took up the reserve of the NDC and extended his perimeters on the NDC land that would prevent both Guysuco and the NDC from clearing a major waterway in the event of a flood. This man is in vulgar violation of the law. To date, he has not been touched.
In 1999, I sat across the table from the President in his office and he told me he was deeply concerned about allegations, accusations and insinuations of corruption against leading PPP officials in his government. Look what has happened since then.
As I said in one of my columns for the new year, let's forget about past disagreements, and start afresh. I was referring to the relationship between the President and his critics, including this columnist.
I have in my possession a custom invoice from a foreign firm operating out of China that has a subsidiary here in Guyana. I will submit a copy to President Jagdeo as early as this morning. I will transport a copy to the GRA boss, Mr. Kurshid Sattaur. Copies will be made available to the media. Here is evidence of corruption in the GRA. I implore President Jagdeo to act. If he doesn't, then, something is deadly wrong in New Garden Street.
Let us see what Kurshid Sattaur will do after I have showed him this invoice. Mr. Sattaur does not back down from a fight. I would like to think I do not either. I am not going to let Mr. Sattaur remain silent on this one. I will take him to the Ombudsman if he doesn't act on this one. I repeat; I have irrefutable evidence of corruption in a certain section of the GRA operations.
When I use the word “irrefutable” I mean it in the sense that a thief was seen by the police coming out of a citizen's car with the stereo equipment in his hand. My evidence is as strong as that.
At the moment Mr. Sattaur is unrepentant about the exposure he has conducted against what he alleges are VAT malpractices by certain Guyanese business places.
I don't agree that charges should have been made against two retail establishments. My point is if Mr. Sattaur could go on the offensive with Guyanese companies that had done immeasurable good for this country, then how can he remain passive when a foreign company comes in here and cheats on their custom declarations?
I am not going to quote extensively from the invoice. The average reader will have to go through a minefield to understand how to interpret a faulty invoice. What I will do is to summarize what happened. As you read further, bear in mind that the custom officer knows the percentage of duty and consumption taxes that items carry.
For example, the officer knows the duty on steel rods, television sets, electrical bulbs and so on. A foreign Chinese firm imported into Guyana 1386 cartons of frosted, bronze and plain (clear) glasses. The pieces in each carton varied in number and size. For example, 1100 cases of bronze louvre glass were imported, with each carton containing 48 pieces measuring 30 inches by 4 inches.
The custom officer had to know that plain glass carried a higher duty and consumption tax. Yet all the glasses were taxed at the percentage assigned for frosted glass which is lower. Using the rate set out by the GRA and which any journalist or citizen of this country can know by reading the list the GRA uses on the wharves, the foreign company should have paid for its importation of glass from China, the amount of G$1,789,230. The total collected by the GRA was G$661,325. The treasury of Guyana lost the sum of G$1.1M. The true cost of a pane of imported glass is G$86. The external company paid G$54. How can a legitimate Guyanese company like National Hardware, Gafoor's, Guyana Stores and other hardware outfits compete against these people from China
There is more to come. This particular foreign venture in Guyana has investment in a certain type of production. Yet their importations of late are unrelated to their line of manufacturing.
For example, if I come to Guyana to manufacture cricket bats, why would I be importing television sets and microwave ovens? There must be extreme vigilance on the part of GRA of what is taking place on the wharves. What is irksome (to use a mild word) is that Guyanese firms are being grilled by GRA personnel on the wharves while external operators can do what they like through corrupt public sector workers in the GRA.
What has become of the Fraud Squad that President Cheddi Jagan started under Mr. Wellings in 1994? It was supposed to extirpate the corrupt officers of the Customs and Excise that according to PPP leaders back then, they inherited from the PNC Government. But, with the PPP replacing the PNC in 1992, we had an exchange not a change. The PPP replacements on the wharves were more pathological kleptomaniacs than the ones they were exchanged for.
My friend, Malcolm Harripaul, succeeded Mr. Wellings. What I heard from him told me that large-scale corruption was in the making. I have seen it come to pass. Any citizen that can deny the PPP government is more corrupt than the PNC is not only a barefaced liar but a monumental fool. The Fraud Squad under Cheddi Jagan was one of the nastiest aspects of politics in the history of this country. Jagan not only put thieves and vagabonds to watch over the Customs and Excise but many of them were illiterate.
Malcolm showed me a report one of the Fraud Squad members made during a confrontation with the Queensway Store on Water Street. The guy couldn't read and write. He wasn't educated even at the primary level. The owner told me what the quarrel was all about. Months after becoming a member of the Fraud Squad, this illiterate guy built a hotel on Sheriff Street. I will wait and see what the President and Mr. Sattaur do. There are more invoices like the one I have going around. I get mine from a group of businessmen who are mad with the disadvantage they are suffering. Can you blame them?