GRA boss accuses Glenn Lall of seeking to influence tax fraud case in Guyana

Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattuar has again raised concerns over allegations being made by Kaieteur News Publisher Glenn Lall, referring to his most recent ploy as an attempt to influence the judgment of the acting Chief Justice in the ongoing legal proceedings involving vehicles imported by two remigrants.

Lall and a GRA employee are currently implicated in a scam, allegedly robbing the Guyana government of millions of dollars in import duty on two 2013 Lexus Suburban L57 SUVs brought into the country by remigrants. Lall is listed as the closest relative of the remigrant on documents submitted.

Sattaur, in a letter to the media on Sunday, said the Kaieteur News owner is using his publication to undermine the work that the GRA is bounded by law to execute.

The Commissioner General was referring to a publication in the newspaper’s Sunday, September 21 edition which accused him (Sattaur) of carrying out a plot with former President Bharrat Jagdeo to “bring down Kaieteur News”.

“This supposed revelation of a plot to destroy the Kaieteur News is nothing but an apparent attempt by the newspaper’s publisher to forestall any audit the GRA may wish to undertake of the tax affairs of the Kaieteur News which may uncover irregularities, tax evasion, tax avoidance, fraud, etc.

“It is an attempt to intimidate the GRA and its officers from discharging their statutory duties and functions by suggesting that any audit of the Kaieteur News is malicious and vindictive,” Sattuar’s letter stated, continuing that that the GRA cannot abandon its statutory mandate in light of “spurious and baseless conjecture”.

“Indeed, it compels the GRA to action since these actions believe the fact the Kaieteur News has an interest in preventing an audit by the revenue body, a clear indicator of fraud and the need for an investigation,” he said.

Sattuar added that  the move can be construed as an apparent and continuing effort to influence the learned acting Chief Justice in his impending decision. He said this is confirmed from the most naive reference made by the Editor of the publication that “this matter is before the court and I am sure it will go nowhere”.

“Perhaps the Editor of Kaieteur News can enlighten the public what is meant by this statement and if he is privy to information that is not in the public domain. The GRA is still of the firm belief that the matter will be heard and determined expeditiously and justice will prevail,” statedSattaur.