GRA sets record straight
GRA board Chairman, Rawle Lucas
GRA board Chairman, Rawle Lucas

– Guyana Goldfields investments here pegged a $64B
– Guyana gained $45B from concessions granted

GUYANA Goldfields has invested approximately $64B for the purpose of exploration and other associated costs for at least 10 years since it started operations here, Chairman of the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) Board, Rawle Lucas has disclosed.
Lucas, in an interview with Guyana Chronicle Friday, said the series of articles published by Kaieteur News last week relative to the concessions granted by the government to the company is unfortunate. He explained that the $64B investment here by Guyana Goldfields was without access to concessions.

“This is before those concessions were available to them, they spent $64B. If we used the multiplier effect, you literally had about $178B actually circulating over the period as a consequence of that investment,” Lucas explained. Guyana Goldfields is a Canadian gold-mining company.

He told this newspaper that long before the mining company would have been granted concessions, it had spent “far more than what those concessions are worth”.
“My understanding is within the last two years, Guyana Goldfields would have spent an additional $31B which translates in about $86B of overall benefits to the country,” the authority’s chairman disclosed, while noting that that amount of investment in comparison to the $42B in concessions granted will show that Guyana benefitted by an additional $45B as a result of the concessions.

In an article published on Thursday, May 17, 2018 and headlined, “Concessions galore! Guyana gives away $42B in tax breaks to gold company and gets $5B in royalty”, Kaieteur News said since Guyana Goldfields first gold bar in 2014, it has benefitted from $42.2B in concessions.

The article stated too that the company received $17.8B in concessions on fuel, lube oil and other lubricants and chemicals. Additionally, the report noted that the mining company was also granted $14B in tax breaks on machinery and equipment which include excavators, bulldozers, motor graders, caterpillar trucks, generators and front-end loaders to name a few. Some $10.6B was also said to be given to the company in tax concessions on spare parts.

NOTHING SINISTER
However, Lucas told the Guyana Chronicle that there is nothing strange or sinister in the concessions granted to Guyana Goldfields or any other foreign company operating here.
“Foreign investment represents money that moves from one location to another location but the money doesn’t move willy-nilly, it is influenced by the returns that the investor will get on that money. But sometimes it is also influenced by a need where an investor may need the resources that a particular country has, so it could be a case where in accessing those resources, the risks are much greater than going somewhere else. Therefore, one looks for the benefits one could get between the two countries, the benefits,” he explained.
The GRA board chair said too that gold, one of the country’s most dominant natural resources, was discovered in or around the 1840s and with the exception of OMAI–a large-scale mining company–there was primarily reference to small-scale miners. This, Lucas said, suggests that “we didn’t have the capacity to operate on a larger scale and a much more efficient scale that would bring benefits to us”.

“One has to have a trade-off. The investor has the ability to access the mineral and we have the opportunity to gain employment, revenues, foreign exchange and so forth from those resources. So, we don’t take investments from foreigners very lightly. We understand the seriousness and the importance,” he told Guyana Chronicle.
Lucas expressed disappointed in the manner in which the articles were published by Kaieteur News and opined that the articles seemed to have limited the value of the concessions granted by government to “a single sliver of the benefits that accrued to the country from granting those concessions”.

“Equating tax breaks with merely royalty is a very limited view of things and I think it is very reckless, given the impact it could have on the confidence of prospective investors of doing business in a country like Guyana,” declared Lucas.

He disclosed that the Revenue Authority evaluates when required, and implements decisions reached on matters of concessions while stressing that “concessions are not things that governments giveaway like that”.

Lucas made it clear that concessions are usually linked to some benefits in which the country sees and based on information he is privy to, the cases referred to by Kaieteur News are no exception.

“I think it is important for the international community to understand that the opinion expressed in the newspaper is quite ill-informed and inadequate,” he said, making it clear that the GRA has not discussed concessions or formed any opinions on concessions at the level of the board, other than to ensure that they are being monitored.
“We do monitor and have a report that comes to the board at every board meeting; it is statutory requirement that we put in place two years ago to improve our management control and oversight of the performance of the revenue authority.” Other things are also closely monitored to ensure that the authority is able to discharge of its responsibilities effectively and efficiently.

GREAT CONCERN
Meanwhile, asked to comment on what appears to be a leakage of confidential information to the press, Lucas said there is a great concern about violations of confidentiality rules as they have a possibility of hindering foreign investment.
In this regard, he said Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia is taking the matter seriously and has assured him that he will investigate leakages of information to the media. He made it clear, however, that while it is possible the information was leaked by the GRA, it could have been leaked by other sources.
Kaieteur News, in its articles, published images of items Guyana Goldfields received concessions on.

“We are trying to ensure the source of the breach is not within the confines of GRA,” Lucas told Guyana Chronicle while noting that whatever decisions are taken by government to stimulate investment here, is one which the authority is required to carry out.
Notwithstanding, those found guilty of releasing confidential information will be dismissed. “I have made it quite clear that we intend to gain and retain the confidence of taxpayers and we have a zero tolerance with respect to the breach of confidentiality.”
The Revenue Authority has sought additional tools with which to garner the revenues of the government and this includes accessing bank accounts.

“Therefore, we understand how uneasy taxpayers were about the expanded powers of the authority and we want to show the taxpayers that we respect their concerns. Therefore, we are not going to tolerate anyone who believes that he or she can breach the confidences that taxpayers have put in us,” he concluded.

 

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.