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GRA confirms $600,000 fraud at city wharf

Mar 04, 2010 News

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has confirmed a report by Kaieteur News of yet another major fraud involving one of its staffers.
This time, a statement from Commissioner-General, Khurshid Sattaur, said that an estimated $600,000 may have been missing.
While the release did not state the wharf, the report in this newspaper on Wednesday had identified the wharf as the Guyana National Shipping Corporation facility.
According to GRA yesterday, the Internal Audit Division unearthed the fraud during routine audit investigation by the staff of that unit.
The staff suspected to be involved in the fraud has turned himself in to the Guyana Police Force which has begun investigation into the matter.
GRA said that it will provide more information on the nature of the fraud and indicate whether other staff and or taxpayers were involved.
According to Sattaur, “while the magnitude of this fraud is estimated to be in the vicinity of $600,000 the fact that GRA is capable of detecting these activities is commendable.”
He acknowledged that while it may be impossible to prevent all frauds from occurring at an enormous entity such as the GRA, which has a wide mandate and covers a wide geographic area, the potency of internal control systems must not be compromised.
Sattaur said that he believed the ability of GRA to detect these frauds is a direct result of the many audit and investigative systems put in place in recent years.
GRA said that among the more notable of frauds uncovered are the $300M cashier fraud which occurred in November 2009 and the non-adherence to banking procedures by a cashier working at Customs.
GRA said it instituted charges against the employees involved in the $300M fraud which resulted from collusion between staff of the Information Technology Division and the cashier area.
The agency also disclosed that it dismissed the officers involved and was able to institute charges against two of the perpetrators. One of the suspects has fled the jurisdiction while another was granted bail of $500,000.
GRA said that it is awaiting the investigation of the police and the Auditor General’s Office to proceed with prosecution.
Meanwhile, the cashier who disappeared with the daily takings instead of banking it was dismissed.
The Commissioner General, according to the release, commended the staff of the Audit Division for “their tireless efforts in ensuring adherence to internal controls and to detect breaches.”

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