Govt orders probe into duty-free concessions…Report fingers top GRA officials in fraud scheme
GRA’s Khurshid Sattaur
A senior Government official yesterday confirmed that the investigations were quietly ordered by the Office of the President earlier this year with the report fingering the senior official and one of his top aides who works in the Tax Exemption Processing and Verification.
The probe was launched after complaints were made into the scheme which saw hundreds of millions of dollars being diverted from the tax coffers.
The revelations would come as GRA Commissioner General, Khurshid Sattaur, is in deep trouble with his independence being questioned after a series of shocking email were published in Kaieteur News. These indicated the release of sensitive tax information for private media houses. The information was sent to former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
The email spoke of a plot to silence media houses, including Kaieteur News, which are highly critical of the government policies and projects and the way taxpayers’ dollars are being spent.
According to the government official, who asked not to be named, the duty free concession racket involved vehicles imported by persons posing as remigrants and even investors. [read more]
Comments
Poor KN. Someone must have convinced its owner that the US was going to put the Opposition into power Pinochet style. So he jumps on board to help this coup using his trash dump of a newspaper. One is forced to read these filthy rags to get a sense of the mindset of the politics of nasty people. KN needs to be shut down or seriously reigned in keeping with the role of the media to provide quality reporting. Because the media plays an important role in educating society.
I was very moved when I read the wiki leaks document relating to an interview between then president Bharrat Jagdeo and the US Ambassador to Guyana, wherein Mr Jagdeo expressed candid and deep misgivings about Guyana implementing/adopting neo-liberal policies being pushed by the US govt. Mr Jagdeo stated that Guyanese people were not in an economical/financial position to take on these policies that are designed to continue their economic hardships. He explained that the Guyanese people have suffered economically for a very long time and that they needed relief. A belated thank you to Mr Jagdeo for looking out and caring about the people of Guyana. And to Mr Ramotar for continuing this policy. If the US would stop interfering in Guyana for the benefit of its sole personal interests of exploiting and pillaging the resources of Guyana and the Guyanese people –with the help of the Opposition and the likes of KN and SN– Guyana would truly be a successful and vibrant country.
“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” Voltaire.