With an estimated 30 per cent of Guyana’s raw gold being smuggled out of the country, Director of the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), Dr Clive Thomas says efforts are being made to not only plug the leak, but to have as much as possible of the precious metal returned.
“Contact with neighbours to whom most of the smuggled gold goes were initiated and we started negotiations about the recovery of that,” Thomas said in a recent interview with Stabroek News. He informed that the agency has made great strides with Brazil, though he added that the recent elections and change of government in that country has resulted in further discussions being stalled.
Since it entered office in 2015, the APNU+AFC administration has contended that large amounts of gold are being smuggled out of the country. However, there has been little evidence of success in intercepting these illicit shipments.
