Questions raised over armoured-plated, re-migrant vehicle seized from Rasul

Apr 23, 2017 News

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Two of the vehicles seized from embattled gold deal Sadiqqi ‘Bobby’ Rasul by the

Guyana Revenue Authority are raising a number of questions, particularly since it was discovered that both of them are armoured plated, one of which was imported under the re-migrant scheme.
In February, 2016, the Customs Amendment Bill was passed making changes to the regulations governing the re-migrant scheme. The new law provided that re-migrants must reside in Guyana for at least 183 days after applying for re-migrant status, before leaving the country again.
As it relates to re-migrants importing vehicles without paying duties, those persons must do so within six months of resuming residence in Guyana. Based on information received from re-migrants who would have imported vehicles, they are required to wait three years before selling that automobile.
With this being considered, it is being asked how is it that Rasul was able to own the luxury Lexus LX 570 SUV since the vehicle was imported under the scheme about two years ago.
This should have raised red flags since it was a breach of the law. Adding mystery to the issue is the fact that the vehicle was imported as it was produced by the manufacturer but following inspection by GRA officials, it was reported that the SUV seems to be armoured plated.
It is unclear how this happened since no auto-body shop in Guyana specialises in that kind of work. There are no records of the vehicle at GRA being armoured plated. No permission was given by the relevant authorities to have these vehicles affixed with the high level material. This newspaper has learnt that investigators are currently looking for another vehicle owned by the businessman.
Rasul’s Lexus was seized on Friday by officials of the GRA from a Campbellville auto body shop. The vehicle was transported on a tow truck to GRA’s Eccles Industrial Site State Warehouse around 16:00hrs. It appeared as though body work was being done on the vehicle since most of it was in matte black and various parts had spots of primer which suggest that the vehicle was about to be repainted.
The cost price for such a vehicle is estimated to be $20M. On April 12, GRA had seized the Toyota Hilux from Rasul’s Prashad Nagar home shortly after 13:00hrs. The Hilux is believed to have been imported from Brazil earlier this year but was never declared to Customs. At the time of seizure the vehicle was found bearing the numbers PKK 1996.
Three days ago, ranks attached to the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) arrested Rasul after which simultaneous raids were conducted on properties belonging to him and associates.
SOCU had gone to the Lot 25 Sandy Babb Street, Kitty, Georgetown home of Ricardo Fagundes, a close associate of Rasul. There, ranks presented Tessa Fagundes, sister of Ricardo Fagundes with a search warrant and said that they were after computers, laptops and phones among other items. The woman said that SOCU’s visit was about the third made to her brother’s residence.
During the raid, the unit seized three high value sports motorbikes, a Jet Ski and reportedly found a bag with ammunition. The entire family that was at the property at the time was arrested. It is believed that Ricardo Fagundes is currently in custody along with Rasul.
This newspaper understands that SOCU had visited Rasul’s Gordon Street, Kitty business place whereby a sport utility vehicle was taken away. Rasul had appeared in court on April 3, 2017 and was placed on $3M bail after he was charged with six counts of fraud. However, those charges were withdrawn and six new charges were instituted.
Meanwhile, Kaieteur News has learnt that the gold dealer owned a security firm in Bartica and a number of gun licenses were issued to that firm. The police have since seized a quantity of weapons belonging to the firm and the gun licenses are being revoked.
The gold dealer found himself in hot water after allegedly collecting $956M at the Bartica, Region Seven branch of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) based on a number of cheques he deposited; the cheques later bounced.
Commercial Banks would usually hold cheques from other Banks until they are cleared before making payments on them. However, there was disregard for this procedure by GBTI officials resulting in one employee being dismissed.
Further, it was learnt that Rasul visited the Guyana Gold Board (GGB) on multiple occasions in one day which eventually raised suspicions because it indicated that R. Mining Inc., owned by Rasul, was washing down at its mining operations several times a day.
However, it was found to be impossible for this to happen. Despite this, the man’s company was allowed to continue its practice over a three month period – September to November 2016 without attracting any attention.
Over time, it was these visits by Rasul at GGB that caused officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources to call in SOCU to investigate if there was collusion between employees of that entity and Rasul.
The Ministry also wants to know if this dealing by Rasul and the GGB was used as an avenue to launder large sums of cash.

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