Several customs officers implicated in the polar beer scam involving Fidelity Investments have been dismissed by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) after being interdicted from duty nearly a year ago.
GRA has been dispatching termination letters to the employees following an internal investigation of the findings contained in the Auditor General-led report that had recommended charges against fourteen custom officers.
Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur declined to comment when contacted last evening saying that he would “confirm tomorrow”.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that termination letters have reached a few of the employees, and that GRA was still sending out others.
GRA officials commenced an investigation earlier this year and when asked about it Sattaur had said then that it was in keeping with procedure.
A total of 72 individual and joint charges, ranging from fraud and forgery and conspiracy to commit a felony, were read to twelve GRA officers and two brokers last month.
The charges were laid almost four months since a special task force, headed by the Auditor General Deodat Sharma, recommended criminal charges. Director of Public Prosecutions Shalimar Ali-Hack had been reviewing the task force report, which urged charges against a top Fidelity Investment official, a broker and fourteen CTA employees said to be complicit in the fraud. No Fidelity official has been charged to date.
The GRA officers charged were Michelle Matthias, Rhonda Glad, Karen Bobb-Semple, Simone Herod, Roopnarine Ramkishan, Ausya Greenidge, Jasoda Mohamed, Anthony Gildharie, Sadish Petamber, Vicky Sooknandan, Rabindra Ramsaran and Satish Basdeo.
GRA officer, Ann Noel was absent from the hearing but was also charged.
Brokers Rajendra Rajcoomar and Samantha Sam, who were alleged to have played a central role in the scam, were also charged.
Five of the officers implicated in the scam were dismissed before the charges were laid.
The case against the customs officers has taken on added interest in the wake of the discontinuing of charges by the DPP against the Head of Fidelity Investments, Joshua Safeek. There are reports that this move was part of a plea bargain deal but there has been no confirmation of this. Questions have been raised as to how only the customs officers and brokers can be prosecuted in this matter.
