Probe into Gold Board racket unearths collusion

Apr 07, 2014 News

– Guyana robbed of hundreds of millions$$$ each month

Several hundred million Guyana dollars are being siphoned off each month in a racket at the Gold Board, as a result of collusion between dealers, Government and senior officials of that entity.
An official within the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) yesterday explained the scheme that was uncovered and which over the weekend led to the closure of the Guyana Gold Board sub-office at Bartica, Region Seven.
Five low level employees at the office have since been arrested.
According to the source, dealers would purchase gold from miners across the country at purity levels that vary.
This gold would then be sold to the Guyana Gold Board Office and its branches countrywide. The source said that through collusion, some corrupt staffers in the Gold Board pay the dealers for gold at a 95 per cent purity rate, when in fact the purity level is far less.
This means that despite the fact some of the gold sold to the Gold Board may be 60 per cent pure, the dealer is still paid for the gold at the 95 per cent rate.
According to the official, this racket that has been going on for several years and as such had to be with the knowledge of very senior officials at the Gold Board and possibly at the Ministry’s level.
According to the official, it is highly inconceivable that the Gold Board could not have picked up on the scheme. The Gold Board must be aware of the quality of gold its buys and the quality of gold it sells on a monthly basis.
“You don’t have to be an accountant or a scientist to pick up on this,” the official said.
This publication was told that gold is exported monthly with each shipment being 10,000 ounces, worth an average of $2B (US$10M).
Of that 10,000 ounces, an average of 6,000 is legitimately paid for at its purity level, while the remaining 4,000 ounces are mixed and paid for at the 90-95 per cent purity while its purity is much less.
According to the official, if those 4,000 ounces of gold were 60 per cent pure, and was bought through collusion at 95 per cent, it would mean that the players in the fraud scheme would be raking in $308M (US$1.5M).
According to the official, this $308M on each shipment is split between the dealers and the corrupt Gold Board players, robbing the country of royalties and taxes.
In early 2010, a manager of the Guyana Gold Board was sacked and a probe launched following the sale of a substantial quantity of gold said to be tainted with silver.
That manager, too, was based at Bartica.
Kaieteur News had reported then that the gold sold may have been in the vicinity of four kilograms and valued at over $25M. The entity had reportedly lost $3M.
Back then, Prime Minister Sam Hinds, who was charged with the mining portfolio, said that in a number of cases involving the Essequibo trader, a quantity of gold sold was only tested in part when all the different pieces should have been analysed.
It was found that the pieces that were tested showed high purity levels and were bought. However, later tests found that a greater percentage of the gold sold was not of the desired level.
The GGB reportedly incurred a substantial loss as a result.
In 2009, a senior laboratory technician was reportedly sent home for mis-appropriating a quantity of gold.
Meanwhile, investigators are trying to ascertain whether the tainted mineral has made it onto the international markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
Natural Resources Minister Robert Persuad told reporters on Saturday that investigators were trying to ascertain the extent of the racket at the Bartica location, while it is still unclear how long the fraud activities had been taking place.
He said that assistance would be accepted from foreign authorities if necessary, adding that investigators will follow wherever the leads take them.
“We are going to collaborate with the regular overseas agencies and channels and law enforcement agencies to determine if there is a foreign element in this racket.”

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