CONGRATULATIONS to the Guyana Revenue Authority, led by Mr. Khurshid Sattaur, for the recent work being done to stem the abuse of the well-intended duty-free concessions for re-migrants.

In the same vein it is important to condemn the actions of those abusers, namely Mr. Glenn Lall and his wife.
I call on all citizens to speak up and call out individuals like Mr. Lall when they engage in such behaviour; especially since Mr. Lall professes, through his newspaper, Kaieteur News, to be the advocate for justice, transparency, and accountability for the Guyanese people.
The public needs to note that Mr. Lall is blatantly engaging in the very activities he accuses the Government of, but what is worse is that he is also guilty of threatening the Commissioner General, Mr. Sattaur, in an effort to dissuade him from pursuing the case. Now Mr. Lall is guilty of not just hypocrisy, but thuggery!
Mr. Lall is the first to make claim of Government corruption, based on hearsay and suspect journalism, yet fails every time to provide evidence of such claims that can withstand the scrutiny of the judicial system.
Also, please permit me to encourage Mr. Anand Goolsarran to use his organisation, Transparency Institute of Guyana, as a platform to commend the GRA and acknowledge the good work the Government of Guyana is doing to stem corruption. This is an opportune time for the organisation, and indeed Mr. Goolsarran, to demonstrate to the public that he and his organisation are non-partisan.
If the mandate of the institute is “to promote public accountability and transparency, and eradicate corruption in Guyana,” it is important for Mr. Goolsarran and his organisation to acknowledge the effort being made by the Government at this time. Though it has been past a week since this story has been unfolding, Mr. Goolsarran and his organisation have been notably silent on the issue. The Transparency Institute and Mr. Goolsarran need to set the tone and rebuke Mr. and Mrs. Lall.
The GRA is now tasked to provide evidence to the courts that the activities of Mr. and Mrs. Lall are indeed reflective of intentional fraud. I will not take up column inches to rehash the facts already presented about the case via the various news outlets, but would like to call on all right-thinking, fair-minded citizens to speak up and encourage the GRA, and indeed the Government of Guyana, to pursue this case. There needs to be a clear message to the public, by the public, that such bare-faced abuse, illegal activities and thuggery will not be tolerated!

RICHARD PAUL