Guyana Revenue Authority Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur today said the he was concerned by alleged accessing by Kaieteur News of confidential information and will call in the police to investigate.
He also disclosed that there had been attempts to illegally access one of the GRA’s email accounts.
The GRA press release issued on the matter follows.
GRA’s Information Infrastructure and Confidentiality Mechanisms Breached by Kaieteur News, Lall and Associates.
Tuesday October 3, 2014 Georgetown: Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Mr. Khurshid Sattaur has expressed concern and alarm at publications made in the Kaieteur News newspaper. The Commissioner-General has indicated that the content of the articles and publications in the “Dem Boys Seh” column clearly demonstrated that the Kaieteur News and Glenn Lall have been able to successfully infiltrate and corrupt staff within the agency to obtain sensitive and confidential information. The Commissioner General stated that Lall was able to obtain confidential information on his overseas travel plans, the purpose of his visit overseas and information on an initial analysis of the income of media houses to inform the need for an audit.
The GRA, subsequent to the unlawful disclosures of information, obtained by illegal and illicit means, has since taken numerous steps to buttress the IT Security Infrastructure, internal access to, and transmission of sensitive taxpayer information, in addition to launching an intensive investigation into the source of these leaks and other illegal and illicit activities. To date, despite its best efforts, the Agency has been unable to identify the source of these illegal disclosures and unlawful transmission of sensitive taxpayer information, personal information on the Head of the Guyana Revenue Authority and other internal workings of the GRA.
Having regard to the inability of the Agency to identify the source of these illegal disclosures, the Agency is preparing to formally request the Guyana Police Force to conduct intensive and extensive investigations to determine the perpetrators and offenders. Mr. Sattaur reiterates that “the police should investigate and compel Lall to disclose the source of his information against the Laws of Guyana, rendering them liable to criminal prosecution.” The Commissioner General concedes that “a comprehensive audit of Kaieteur News Holding Company was warranted and the initial analysis was prompted by the recent discovery of incidents relating to the evasion of taxes by the company on imported ink and irregular and unlawful evasion of import duties on vehicles imported by re-migrants but used by the Kaieteur News’ publisher and his wife.
These unlawful transactions were clear indicators and drivers for a preliminary investigation as to whether a comprehensive audit of the company or Lall was necessary. Unfortunately, Lall and the Kaieteur News were able to surreptitiously obtain this information by deceit, corruption and for illegal means and have attempted to manipulate this information to stultify efforts by the GRA to conduct the comprehensive audit of the company by creating false emails purportedly suggesting a conspiracy to destroy the newspaper.
Mr. Sattaur maintains that “a comprehensive audit of a company is not designed to destroy a company but to ensure that the company is compliant with the tax and revenue laws of Guyana. To date, the GRA has audited thousands of businesses and is yet to receive reports that there was a conspiracy or plot to destroy the said business or that the businesses (es) was/ were thereby destroyed.
Officers of the company, including Lall may rest assured that once the business is compliant with the tax laws, no audit by the GRA will result in the destruction of Kaieteur News. Having regard to the extreme length at which the Kaieteur News would go to prevent this audit, including corrupting officers of the GRA or others unknowns to divulge sensitive and confidential information, creation and publication of fake emails, public statements suggesting audit of the company will result in its destruction, it is evident that the company may not be compliant with the tax laws.
Mr. Sattaur posits that in the three decades that he has been employed within the GRA and the twelve years that he has been the Commissioner General, “there has never been a disclosure of confidential taxpayer information or even an allegation that there has been such disclosure.” It is interesting to note that it is only after Lall illegally obtained confidential information regarding an impending audit that these unfounded, malicious, and manufactured allegations have surfaced.
ATTEMPTS TO ATTACK GRA IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Even as investigations are ongoing into the illegal release of GRA’s information, there have been several additional attempts to attack GRA’s IT (information technology) infrastructure.
On Tuesday September 30, 2014 at 19:20 hrs, the GRA was notified by the site administrator of Google mail that there were unusual attempts to access the GRA Public Relations Account, grapublicrelations@gmail.com. According to Google, two attempts were made originating out of Bridgetown, Barbados and another in Georgetown, Guyana. These attempts were unsuccessful since the person or persons seeking access the account could not verify the requisite information.
Mr. Sattaur has pointed out that fortuitously; the increased security measures and infrastructure thwarted these unlawful attempts. However, “What is extremely disturbing is that were these attempts successful, persons unknown could have accessed GRA information and perpetrate sinister plans or motives.” The Commissioner General is requesting the Guyana Police Force to launch a thorough investigation into the breaches, illegal disclosures and attempts to attack GRA’s IT infrastructure.
It is evident that Glenn Lall and the Kaieteur News have been able to obtain and have been publishing confidential taxpayer and GRA information which leads one to suspect that these further attempts may be orchestrated to unlawfully access additional information of this nature. This unlawful access to and disclosure of confidential taxpayer information by Lall are likely to erode public and taxpayers’ confidence in the Authority. This may lead to hesitancy on the part of the taxpayers to submit information to the GRA for fear that this information may be accessed by Lall and similarly disclosed and or manipulated to their detriment. The GRA is in possession of and will provide the IP addresses of the failed attempts to hack the GRA’s email server.
The Revenue Authority contends that the Kaieteur News would attempt by any measures to stultify efforts by the Authority to audit the company, to disparage the image of the Authority and Commissioner General thereby, and in the process eroding the public’s trust and confidence in its mandate.
It is imperative that Lall and all others involved be thoroughly investigated and if found culpable be subject to criminal charges.
The Commissioner General states that “The GRA wishes to assure the public that in light of those breaches, significant efforts have been made to bolster information security and to prevent any further occurrences. The GRA is calling on all civil minded persons and political parties to condemn these unlawful disclosures by Lall, the illegal and illicit means by which he obtains confidential GRA information and to publicly call for and support the investigation of Mr. Glen Lall and prosecution if necessary. All persons, political parties, private, and public sector organizations should publicly demean Glen Lall and call for the Kaieteur News to disclose the source of this illegally obtained information and that they desist from this unbecoming and unlawful conduct.”
