– article on GRA is ‘erroneous, false, seriously misleading, mischievous, and appears to have a hidden agenda’

I AM writing concerning an article appearing in the Sunday, January 5, 2014 edition of the Kaieteur News, captioned “Massive Corruption uncovered at Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA)”.

The mere caption of this KN article suggests that someone in authority uncovered this massive corruption at CJIA or has information in their possession to support this claim. However,
GRA wishes to state unequivocally that (the Kaieteur News) article is erroneous, false, seriously misleading, mischievous, and appears to have a hidden agenda to discredit and slander the names of senior officers attached to the CJIA.
It is most unfortunate that (this newspaper) chooses to peddle such mischief concerning GRA’s operatives at the CJIA so early in the new year.

The article alleged that a “very senior officer” in the Monitoring Section at the airport has been colluding with security officers and immigration officials to recycle airport tax stubs, as well as facilitating the placement of contraband, including drugs on planes destined for foreign locations.
You are truly misguided or uninformed of the diversity of GRA’s operations at CJIA to insinuate that one particular individual, can unwittingly perpetrate illegal activities, such as recycling airport tax stubs, allow drugs and other items to be placed on planes, and collect payment to ensure that containers are not thoroughly searched.

Apart from being outrageous, these allegations are also nonsensical, since the sale of Travel Tax Tickets fall under the purview of the Internal Revenue Department (IRD), while passenger’s baggage, importation and exportation of cargo are the responsibility of the Customs and Trade Administration.
Monitoring Officers fall under the Common Services Department. Only officers of the respective departments can perform functions within their Department.
Internal Revenue Officers cannot perform Customs & Trade Administration (C&TA) functions or vice versa.

Neither can a monitoring officer perform functions within IRD or C&TA. How in the name of proper journalism can you publish such garbage without conducting proper investigation(s)? The ethical thing to do was to verify the accuracy of information fed to you by someone who apparently has a grudge.
Travel Tax Tickets are reconciled with passenger manifests to ensure proper accountability.
It was during a routine reconciliation activity, on a particular shift, that GRA discovered attempts were being made to recycle Travel Tax Tickets by some Internal Revenue officers, stationed at CJIA. Investigations were conducted and appropriate disciplinary actions taken against those officers in accordance with GRA’s Code of Conduct.

The article also stated that the “GRA’s official would stop cameras from recording or delete footage altogether in order to allow these dealings to go unrecorded.
In addition, cameras at the airport are very unreliable and become non-functional after a bout of heavy rains among other reasons. This is used as an excuse whenever questioned about missing footage.”

Please be informed that feeds from GRA’s cameras at CJIA are monitored by senior officers and recorded in other locations. To that end, any attempt to stop the cameras or delete footage would be discovered. Moreover, GRA’s cameras have provided useful evidence in numerous cases, which we are not at liberty to disclose. In addition, there are other cameras and security mechanisms in place at CJIA, which are monitored by independent agencies to ensure that contraband is intercepted.

The article also reported that “despite other allegations against the officer, he was transferred to the airport and subsequently promoted. Also, the reason activities are not thoroughly investigated and forwarded to the Commissioner General is because the corrupt officer and persons required to investigate, share a close relationship.”

Contrary to the article, GRA changed the entire management team at CJIA in August 2013 when two Customs officers were implicated in drug trafficking. All officers were transferred at their substantive positions and are being rotated on a quarterly basis.

GRA’s Internal Affairs Division investigates all reports of corruption by its officers and would be grateful if KN can provide the evidence in its possession, including who uncovered the massive corruption at CJIA, so that an investigation can be launched. The GRA has always maintained that incidents such as these can be avoided if persons in the media take the time to verify the authenticity of the information they have received.

The GRA has always maintained a strong stance against corruption and will continue to investigate all allegations of corruption against officers. Additionally, the GRA is considering taking legal action for the slanderous information contained in the article.

KHURSHID SATTAUR
Commissioner General, GRA