President Bharrat Jagdeo says the administration is seeking help from agencies in the United States to carry out forensic investigation into the customs duty irregularities involving Fidelity Invest-ments and a number of customs officials following explosive revelations about the evasion of customs duties on beer.
Further, he said that Guyana will pursue laws to make proceeds from corrupt transactions forfeitable, as should be the case in money laundering when the relevant legislation is passed.
Speaking at a press conference at the Office of the President yesterday, Jagdeo said that the Government has received a list of US agencies that are capable of carrying out the investigations. He said that on deciding on the overseas company to assist with the investigation, personnel presently managing the disbursement of funds from the Millennium Challenge Account Threshold Pro-gramme will work along with the US investigating company. This programme is providing funds for capacity building in the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Last month, a key Fidelity figure fingered top GRA officials in the scandal revealing how the company had entrusted a customs broker with $142 million to get the shipment from the wharf. The man reportedly came up with a deal with CTA to clear the Polar beers under the category of ‘assorted soft drinks’, which draws less tax than beers. The sum of $32 million was then paid to the revenue body in taxes and another $70 million was paid to a top customs official who allowed the shipment to leave the wharf and who allegedly facilitated documents being falsified for Fidelity.
Regarding the public concerns on the integrity of the investigation, the President said that Commissioner General of the GRA Khurshid Sattaur is the only GRA staffer who is involved in the probe. Some letter writers to this newspaper have said that the integrity of the investigation will be tainted once the GRA was directly involved. The team also comprises personnel from the Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Auditor General and the Police.
