THE Guyana Energy Agency, represented by special prosecutor Gino Persaud, secured yet another success in the fight against fuel smuggling with a conviction against Sukdio Rampersaud of Golden Fleece, Essequibo Coast on March 30, 2012. The defendant was found guilty of being in possession of illegal petroleum and storing illegal petroleum, contrary to the Guyana Energy Agency Act. The defendant had been intercepted on February 11, 2010, when GEA inspectors sampled and tested 60 gallons of fuel stored at his residence in the Golden Fleece area.
The ruling was handed down by Magistrate Daley at the Charity Magistrate’s Court, who subsequently ordered that the defendant pay a fine of $600,000.
To date, the fuel marking programme has convicted 13 persons for a total of sixteen 16 offences, two of which were guilty pleas. Thirteen new charges were filed in 2011, compared with 27 in 2010, seven in 2009 and three in 2008. At the end of April 2012, there were 21 prosecutions engaging the courts.
Consumption of mogas (gasoline) for the year 2011 increased by 1.80% compared to 2010.
Gasoil (diesel) consumption by the oil companies increased by 7.24% compared to the previous year. The increase in gasoil consumption correlates with the overall sustained growth of the economy and decreased availability of smuggled fuel, which may be attributed to the success of the monitoring and enforcement activities of the Fuel Marking Programme.
“In fact, it is laudable that from 2006 to 2011, the percentage of identified sites found with illegal fuel has progressively decreased from 34% in 2006 to 2% in 2011,” according to a release from the agency.