THE Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in reference to an article captioned “GRA Seizes Luxury Cars in Tax Evasion Probe” appearing in the Thursday July 29, 2010 edition of the Kaieteur News has condemned the attack on the Commissioner-General. A release said the GRA is disappointed that the Kaieteur News in its vendetta to taint the image of the GRA and bring disrepute on the revenue boss twisted the comments made off the record by the Commissioner-General.
“The GRA has been on the receiving end of unwarranted attacks by the Kaieteur News. This GRA believes is not only geared towards tainting the image of the Commissioner-General but also undermining GRA’s operations. The Commissioner-General is of the opinion that it appears that there may be some persons within GRA who are not loyal to the Revenue Authority, and are being paid by the newspaper to give scoops and insights into highly sensitive and confidential matters. The GRA, therefore, condemns these actions which are highly illegal, unethical and unprofessional,” the release said.
It further stated that GRA on a regular basis has had to respond to articles carried by the Kaieteur News which are erroneous, bias, and sensational and a breach of the Revenue Act and Tax Laws. According to the Commissioner-General while the GRA is favorably disposed to responding to media operatives, some ethics should be exercised especially by the Reporters of Kaieteur News when executing their duties. The Commissioner-General notes, “It is obvious that there is an agenda when something said off the record is published.”
An investigation launched by GRA concerning the alleged disappearance of the boat from the Boat House revealed that there are persons, from within and outside of the organisation, with the hidden agenda of destroying and tarnishing the image of GRA for narrow personal ends. It is believed that those officers of GRA who leak information are on the payroll of Kaieteur news. This remains the case although GRA officers are sworn to secrecy, pertaining to the provision of information to others who are not authorised to receive such information, and the fact that such offences carry stiff penalties including imprisonment.
The Commissioner-General notes, “there is nowhere in the world that taxpayers information are used in such a scandalous manner in order to prop up the sales of newspapers.” He further stated that the disclosure of information on taxpayers, who may have committed an infraction of the law, continues to be widely debated by members of the private sector and their organizations that meet with the GRA on a regular basis. The Commissioner-General maintains that such disclosures have implications for defamation of character, if not done in the appropriate manner.
“GRA continues to emphasize that in cases where information is leaked, the newspaper should be more responsible and cooperate with GRA in stamping out corruption. Those in the employ of GRA who feed media houses with information should be exposed but from all indication it appears as though Kaieteur News is collaborating with those persons. GRA notes that the upsurge in the leaking of confidential and sensitive information to the media comes in wake of the Authority’s development of Standard Operating Procedures for disseminating information pertaining to defaulting taxpayers.  The investigation continues into what GRA believes to be a conspiracy and it that will expose all elements involved,” the release said.