Dr Richard Van West-Charles, a director of Atlantic Fuels Inc., was on Monday charged with furnishing a false or misleading invoice to the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA).
Van West-Charles, 72, who was up to last year the head of the Guyana Water Incorporated, was arraigned before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus in a Georgetown court, where he denied the charge. He was later released on $100,000 bail.
The particulars of the charge state that on November 13, 2020, AFI submitted invoice #100 to the GEA regarding a shipment of diesel, claimed to have been purchased from Global Oil NV, knowing same to be false or misleading. After being granted bail, Van West-Charles was told to return to court on August 16.
Van West-Charles was represented by attorney-at-law Siand Dhurjon, who told the court that the AFI has another matter, similar in nature, before Court Six. This is concerning an investigation by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), where the fuel company was probed for under-invoicing and falsifying invoices. As a result, GRA went after the fuel company for taxes for that year.
He added that his client was unaware that the information on the invoice was incorrect. Dhurjon also said that his client will attend court and reminded that he is a well-known doctor.
The GEA was represented by attorney-at-law Arud Gossai.
In April, AFI filed contempt proceedings against the GRA and the GEA. Acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire SC had ordered the two government agencies to immediately release the fuel and pay AFI the $12.8 million it accumulated in storage fees, owing to the seizure of its fuel. But the payments were still outstanding while the fuel remain impounded, prompting the contempt proceedings in which the company sought to have GRA’s Commissioner General Godfrey Statia and GEA’s Chief Executive Officer Mahender Sharma both jailed and fined for not obeying the court’s ruling.
