Not mine! B.M. Soat distances self from Chevy with ‘trade plates’

Oct 04, 2017 News

A Croal Street car dealership is distancing itself from the recent seizures of vehicles which used its trade plates.

B.M. Soat is claiming that this ‘trade plate’
does not belong to them.

According to B.M. Soat Auto Sales, it has information that its trade plates are being unauthorisedly used.
In a disclaimer notice yesterday, in Kaieteur News, the auto sales entity warned that it will take legal actions if any unauthorized persons or companies are found with its trade plates.
“The management of B.M. Soat Auto Sales is in receipt of complaints of unregistered vehicles using the company’s trade plates. The management has in no way issued the use of its logo to any company in the Turkeyen area and has advised the authorities as such. Any persons found falsifying any of the company’s assets will be reported to the authorities and legal action will be taken against the persons/company.”
The notice of B.M. Soat would follow a report by this newspaper over the weekend which spoke of a seizure of three vehicles recently.
At least one of them bore the trade plates of B.M. Soat.
Investigators from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) reportedly could not find records for the vehicles coming into the country.
One vehicle was a Chevrolet HHR, and it had what appeared to be trade plates of B.M. Soat.
Investigators were also attempting to find out the linkages between the vehicles and a Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara business place.
Vehicle smuggling, runnings at the city wharves, and scams involving the abuse of the Remigrant Scheme where overseas-based Guyanese are granted duty free concessions on vehicles and other belongings, have been dogging GRA over the years.
Over the past year alone, in a crackdown, more than 40 vehicles believed to have been brought into the country under the Remigrant Scheme and some suspected to have been smuggled were seized by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Under the Remigrant Scheme scam, vehicles are brought into the country with the importer using mainly persons living in the US.
The Guyanese, who would have been living overseas for years, would be paid a fee to apply for a remigrant status.
This application states that the remigrant is desirous of returning home and wants to bring his or her possessions back. Once granted, the possessions would be allowed to land without attracting the necessary duties.
However, a number of smart persons, aided by a lax monitoring system at GRA in the past, capitalized on the weaknesses of the Remigrant Scheme.
After applying, being granted approval and bringing the vehicles into Guyana, the ‘remigrant’ would promptly hand it over to the ‘real’ owner, stick around for a few mornings and return to his home overseas.
Under the Remigrant Scheme arrangement, GRA was supposed to monitor the applicants to ensure that they are really living in Guyana. Being out of a jurisdiction for longer than is being spent in Guyana would mean that the arrangements have been breached.
In that case, the necessary taxes and royalties would kick in if breaches to the remigrant arrangements can be established.
Prior to last year, GRA appeared not too keen to monitor. It is estimated that hundreds of high end vehicles from Toyota Prado and Land Cruisers, Lexus, Land Rovers, Mercedes, BMW and Infiniti, came in under fraudulent arrangements using the Remigrant Scheme.
As a result, billions of dollars in taxes and royalties were lost to the coffers of Guyana.
However, the crackdown, which began under the new Commissioner-General, Godfrey Statia, last year, has seen more than 40 vehicles being seized.
The owners, facing prosecution and other punishments, have largely opted to settle rather than walk the steps of the courts.