GRA charges against Ramps set for Oct 21 hearing

The first court hearing of the 10 charges which were filed by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) against Ramps Logistics Guyana (RLG) is set for October 21, 2022, before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in Georgetown.

In a statement on Wednesday, the GRA said that the charges for false declarations stem from recently completed investigations carried out by its Law Enforcement and Investigations Division.

It noted that the investigations determined, among other things, that during the period 2021 to 2022, RLG – whose parent company is in Trinidad and Tobago – made several untrue declarations to the Revenue Authority.

Stabroek News has been able to obtain two of the charge sheets. The charges were filed before Magistrate Leron Daly.

One of the charges states “The defendant on the 29th day of June 2022 at lot 200-201 Camp Street, Georgetown, a place in the Georgetown Magisterial District, made and subscribed a false declaration to the Revenue Authority, to wit the defendant falsely declared itself to be the sellers of a quantity of Barite listed on invoice number INV#MVKAWA1EP-20 dated on the 21st day of March 2022.”

The other said that on May 20, 2022, Ramps “made a declaration for the consideration of a Customs Officer on an application presented to him for tax exemption of a quantity of hydrated lime and calcium chloride wherein the defendant untruly declared itself to be the seller of the said items listed on the Invoice No. CGX-EP-V7-IMD7 dated on the 13th day of May 2022.”

Ramps has said the charges are null and void and has suggested that the court action is linked to its resorting to seeking judicial review over the conduct of  the Local Content Secretariat.