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GRA moves to recover hundreds of millions from RUSAL in waived duties
By Gary Eleazar
The Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc . (BCGI) has been put under the spotlight by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) whic
Some of the RUSAL trucks that were removed from the mines and earmarked for sale
h is seeking to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that it opted to forego when Rusal imported them into the country duty-free.
This publication has learnt that the beleaguered Russian-owned bauxite company is now being hauled before the authorities to make good on the payments on the import duties it was supposed to have been paid.
According to information received by Kaieteur News, the tax authority has since begun taking steps to recover, at this stage, in excess of $300M in lost taxes that would have been waived on what would have been imported.
Sources close to the investigations into the operations of the Russian-owned company have divulged that the company sold some of its equipment and was in the process of negotiating sales for others when the authorities swooped down on the operation.
It is unclear at this time whether the BCGI has agreed to make any recompense.
According to persons familiar with the situation, the company has been talking for some time with potential buyers of the equipment.
Much of the equipment is parked under guard in Region Five with work being done to dismantle others in the Berbice River mine area.
Since the company came here in the mid-2000s, BCGI has been granted billions in duty-free and fuel concessions and tax holidays. The selling of the equipment would see GRA losing hundreds of millions in taxes.
Kaieteur News this past week reported at the beginning of last month that GRA auditors were in the Kurubuka mines, Upper Berbice River area, in Region Ten where BCGI operates.
There they found the conditions under which the duty-free fuel was granted to the Rusal-controlled company were not being fully met.
The company is now under investigation for not only selling the duty free equipment it imported but fuel also.
According to documentation seen by this newspaper, the company has been in the business of fuel sales from its inception.
Compounding matters is the fact that in addition to private individuals and employees of the company, as some of its customers, several large-scale businesses are also in cahoots with RUSAL.
These include Minequip Corporation, Oldendorff Carriers—the company it has contracted to ship its bauxite out of the Berbice River—Universal Contracting Services Limited, MACORP, R. Jaisingh Transportation and Reliable Industries, among other companies and private individuals.
RUSAL has kept detailed records of its fuel sales. The records seen by this publication document monthly sale to the entities, the quantities, amounts paid, addresses and invoice numbers for the transactions.
Records seen by Kaieteur News demonstrate that the company in January 2015 sold as much as $25M dollars worth in fuel.
Sales continued monthly at varying amounts $5M in February, $4M in April escalating to $14M by June, $16M by October, $14.2M the following month and closing the year with $11M in December.
This trend continues at an average of about $15M monthly, the following year and has continued at the same base average in ensuing years.
This means that RUSAL has sold just about $1B in fuel at market price—fuel that it had imported or purchased duty-free for its bauxite operations.
Previous investigations by this publication had found that RUSAL’s operation had cost Guyanese more than US$100M so far, in fuel alone, that was imported and duties not paid.
This is in addition to the profit made by the fuel it would have imported duty free and retailed at market value.
The company has never paid any dividends to its 10 percent partner, the Guyana Government.
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