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Govt. now wants jewellers to keep records of who sell them gold
One of the stakeholders raising his concern at Tuesday’s meeting
Kaieteur News – Apart from being compliant with the rules and regulations under which their licences were granted, the government now wants goldsmiths, jewellers and gold dealers to keep records of who sell them gold.
Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat made this known during a meeting with the stakeholders at the Roraima Duke Lodge located in Kingston Georgetown. The minister was joined by the Head of the of Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Newell Dennison and the Guyana Gold Board’s (GGB) General Manager, Eondrene Thompson.
During the discussion, Bharrat said, “The other thing that we need to introduce with your system, your collaboration, is the issue of people bringing gold to you” before adding, “There must be some form of record keeping, there must be some record keeping”.
He stressed that records must be kept for the importance of “traceability”. According to the Bharrat, some systems are already in place to ensure that this is done. “If that becomes a criterion, for your licence, then you have your records to show to GGMC”, he said. “You have to ensure that systems are in place, I can only put systems in place to ensure that you comply with the law…We have that system in place where you must have that log book to show that you have received x, y, z … 1, 2 ounces of gold”, continued the Natural Resources Minister.
This move comes after Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo at one of his weekly press conferences noted that his government is concerned at the continuous decline over the years in gold declaration. At the meeting, the natural resources minister reminded the stakeholders that the decline began after 2016. While he told the stakeholders, that extreme weather conditions might have contributed to low gold production in recent years, Jagdeo at his press conference said that smuggling is also responsible too.
He had issued a stern warning that all those involved in the smuggling and under-declaring of gold will face the full brunt of the law once they are caught. A few days after he issued the warning, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) slapped sanctions on Guyanese billionaire Nazar Mohamed, his son Azruddin Mohamed and government official Mae Thomas after alleging that they were involved in corruption and gold smuggling. On the sidelines of an event at the U.S. Embassy in Georgetown, Ambassador Theriot said the sanctions are as a result of over two and a half years of investigations by US authorities. Prior to that, two women and a man were busted at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport on Tuesday June 4 with US$560,000 (GYD$117,001,604) gold disguised as silver plated jewellery.
Customs Officers of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), seized the gold jewellery from three passengers, two of whom are US citizens, after they were attempting to leave on an outbound American Airlines flight for New York. The operation, which was fully supported by officers of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), and the Customs Anti Narcotic Unit (CANU), led to the discovery of approximately 240 ounces of virtually pure gold disguised as silver plated jewellery, that was being transported out of the country without the necessary permits and declaration to Customs Officials, with a value of over US$560,000. (GYD$117,001,604).
Those individuals were charged with the offence of 𝑬𝒙𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝑳𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒏c𝒆 – in contravention of Section 8 of the Guyana Gold Board Act, Chapter 66:01, contrary to section 23 (a) of the said Guyana Gold Board Act, Chapter 66:01 and are out on $600,000 bail each.
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