The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in March of this year successfully challenged a move by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) to gain access to and make copies of taxpayer records for three persons who were at the time the subjects of a money laundering investigation.
As a result, then acting Chief Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards in March revised a production order that had earlier been granted to SOCU, limiting access to SOCU head Assistant Commissioner Sydney James to examine the relevant documents under the supervision of GRA at the agency’s headquarters. His access to the information was granted subject to confidentiality and with the specific direction not to replicate any of the information in any form or manner.
