GRA staff ensnared in forgery scandal dismissed

TIMES INT'L

The two embattled staff of Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) who forged top officials’ signatures on two duty-free letters have been dismissed. GRA’s Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur in an interview with this publication on Tuesday confirmed that intense police probe has proven beyond doubt that the two persons were guilty of the allegation levelled against them.

GRA’s Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur

Back in March of this year, the individuals, who were attached to the Tax Exemption Division of GRA as filing clerk and trainee auditor respectively, affixed signatures to remission of duty letters (commonly referred to as CG or tax exemption letters) used for issuing duty-free concessions for the ATVs and the mining equipment. Under normal circumstances, these vehicles would have attracted concessions for eligible applicants.
Following the discovery of the scam, they were sent on leave to facilitate police investigation.
During questioning by police, the two former GRA employees admitted to the allegations, but implicated other senior officers. Hence, further probe did not provide any evidence to link the senior officials to the swindle. As such, the commissioner posited that the two fired employees are now levelling allegations against his officers in certain section of the press.
Sattaur said, his entity will not condone any illegal practices of his charges, but at the same time will not act in response to irrational accusations. The commissioner general said that while the agency would never be able to avoid the occurrences, “we can however detect them, weed out the corrupt elements and take them to task swiftly”.
The ATVs (four-wheel motorcycles) are being sold in some cases for as much Gy$ 3 million. They are used mainly in the mining and agricultural areas in the hinterlands.

Related posts