Corruption at Customs has never been stamped out

Dear Editor,

It was only a matter of time before the corruption at the Customs and Excise Adminis-tration (CTA) and thereby the Guyana Reve-nue Authority (GRA) came to light. Having worked with the GRA, I can assure you that this scandal is only the ‘tip of the iceberg’.

As far back as 1992, when I was in high school, the then Customs and Excise Depart-ment (CED) was the entity that many students in my form were desirous of working with. The rationale given was that the remuneration at the Customs and Excise Department was excellent and with hard work, we could have attained the desired affluence. As naïve as that might sound, it did not dawn upon us that the wealth was accumulated by illicit means.