A Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) officer was yesterday handed over to the police after admitting to collecting US$1,000 to pack cocaine in mail bound for New York while being grilled by internal investigators.

“Once again the GRA’s surveillance system has proven effective as the actions of the officer, who worked at the Customs’ Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) location, were caught on camera,” GRA said in a statement yesterday.
It said an internal investigation was immediately launched after reports surfaced across the media that 644 grams of cocaine was found in mail bound for New York on a Caribbean Airlines flight.

Commissioner-General of the GRA Mr. Khurshid Sattaur said the actions of the officer are a clear breach of the organisation’s Standard Operating Procedure and that the entity will work on putting more robust systems in place to weed out corrupt elements. He noted that officers fail to realise that they have a responsibility to act with integrity and protect the image of the organisation, rather than work to tarnish it.

Mr. Sattaur reiterate that the GRA will not condone corrupt individuals whether officials or taxpayers. He said the GRA will do all within its power to stamp out corruption.