Customs officials unexplained wealth cited in major GRA reshuffling

Mar 22, 2018 News

new Customs Chief named; officers had pools at homes

Reported: this home of a Customs Officer was ‘the talk’ as it went up in a very short time

Almost two years after new management was installed at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), the country’s premier tax collection entity, the changes are continuing.

Recently, there have been some major reshuffling underway.

One of them in recent weeks involved the critical position of the head of Customs, Excise and Trade Operations.

The head, Lancelot Wills, has been transferred to the Legal Department, where he was before.

All the moves are reportedly effective from April 1, 2018.

The new Chief of the all-important Customs and Excise, which accounts for a huge chunk of GRA revenues, will be Patrick Hyman, the current Deputy Head.

Officials disclosed that Ingrid Griffith, who was at one time acting as Commissioner-General before Godfrey Statia was hired in August 2016, has been named to head the Integrated Regional Tax Office.

Deputy Commissioner General, Karen Chapman, will be in charge of General Services.

According to knowledgeable sources at GRA, Management and the Board of Directors have been struggling with corruption, but with a zero tolerance adopted, the sackings have been numerous.

Since taking office, Statia and his team have sent home more than 100 staffers for corruption, collusion, absenteeism and other infractions.

Statia made it clear that he is willing to walk if he does not deliver in turning things around.

Last year, GRA’s collections were up by almost $20B with scores of non-compliant businesses hauled in.

The crackdown has also been focusing on abuse of duty free concessions for vehicles granted under the Remigrant Scheme; fuel trade on the borders; under-invoicing and tax evasion by businesses.

With regards to the recent reshuffling, GRA’s top management has been grappling with the unexplained wealth of some Customs officials.

One officer, after just a year on the job, was building what has been described as a mansion. A few of them had pools.

Among some of the frauds, which costs Guyana tens of millions of dollars monthly, were under-invoicing, clearing goods under wrong headings and a host of other schemes.

GRA has been battling corruption for years with Customs Officers being among the biggest culprits.

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