REFERENCE is made to an article published in the Tuesday August 19, 2014 edition of Kaieteur News titled ‘Logging scandal…GFC defends delays in processing facilities…’ in which your newspaper pointed to questions asked during a press conference hosted by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) and the latter’s referral of such queries to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). The newspaper also carried a follow up report in the Thursday August 21, 2014 edition of the newspaper titled ‘Who granted those multi-million $$$ duty free concessions to Bai Shan Lin?’ In the subsequent article, the issue is referenced yet again as though there is some mystery as to the process despite GRA’s previous outline of the process through which concessions are granted, which ironically the newspaper noted in the said article (paragraphs 4, 5 and 6).

As such, based on these continuous queries by the newspaper on the same matter and for further clarification, the GRA wishes to make it clear that:

1. Duty-free concessions are only granted by the GRA if they were first approved by the relevant regulatory entities/bodies, approvals of which are then forwarded to the Revenue Authority. The GRA is most certain that the newspaper is already aware of this and therefore its representatives had to have been mischievous to even pose such questions at the forum.
2. The granting of any specified concession is based on established laws and policies and would be granted taking into consideration the type of investment involved and, therefore, the Newspaper’s reference to the type(s) of vehicle for which any concession was granted was most likely also malicious and reflects a complete misunderstanding of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) followed in the granting of concessions.
3. The GRA will not be providing any further comments on this matter since the Tax Act includes Provisions for such information to be deemed strictly privileged and confidential.

The GRA therefore advises the Kaieteur News to desist from creating unnecessary public mischief and sensationalism and hopes that the newspaper will venture to do proper and thorough research in future, especially prior to publishing articles of such nature.
KHURSHID SATTAUR
Commissioner-General