Dear Editor,
PLEASE allow me to share some more on the need for a State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA) in Guyana.
Before I discuss the subject, let us examine a few trends and observations that should help in rearranging the ignorance of some minds. I, like many others who silently speculate, have strong suspicions that there is a composition of individuals and dominant forces steadfastly united in their efforts at keeping certain types of crime alive and operable in Guyana. Hence, resistance toward the establishment of a SARA here is inevitable.
Some of those individuals, I believe are well established; establishments that were made possible as a result of activities that a SARA now seeks to discourage and completely. Those individuals are not jokers, or masqueraders, they are not bothered about Mashramani; they don’t even support that!
If one is to carefully observe trends, some of the most organised and unified groups are those with dishonest intent, whether it is students who cheat for better grades, narcotic traffickers with their synergetic networks or clandestine persons of prominence, who launder money like water flowing from a rapid.
While thousands of acres of land were being leased away for alleged cutbacks, logs and gold smuggled, and cocaine allowed to transit almost unhindered through our ports, a certain political element in our country sought to promote the impression that overt criminal activity such as armed robbers and simple larcenies were our only nuances. They even attributed it to a particular race. This, I believe, was one of the many guises to detract attention from those massive covert crimes that were being committed by many who now have deep aversions towards a SARA. Their crimes weren’t snatching bags; they were conscientiously and systematically robbing the state.
The absurdity of the notion that crime had an ethnic origin met shameful exposure with unfolding revelations of criminal activity, particularly related to various types of fraud and narcotics trafficking, which implicated multi-ethnic players. What we see in news reports from multiple media sources and outlets, so far suggest that no one is being singled out or prosecuted solely based on ethnic or political linkages. The same could be said from an observation of matters brought before the Courts so far by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) relating to other white collar criminal investigations.
The State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) is gearing up to pursue similar ligations, via civil proceedings, once that Agency’s Bill is assented to in our Parliament.
The latter has been creating grave concern, particularly among some persons closely linked or part of the former administration, as well as their surrogates in the private sector. I made the illustration regarding multi-ethnic collaboration within criminal networks because some individuals are again seeking to use racial innuendoes as distractions and accusatory assertions against those specialised anti-crime units such as SOCU and SARU.
It is fair to say, that some sections of the private sector remain clearly partisan and detest the Coalition Government, along with its policies against corruption, tax-evasion, money laundering, narco-trafficking and trafficking-in-persons (TIP); just to name a few of the diabolic criminal activities that placed this country under various international watch-lists and impending sanctions.
Some of those individuals seem to have concerted priorities, which are to extract, pillage and siphon as much as they can from this country. For them, Guyana is their cash cow. Some of those individuals are prime suspects of unchecked capital flight. They cheat Guyana and rob consumers, while living extravagant and affluent lifestyles. I have no qualms or issues with affluence, providing it is achieved honestly.
Those individuals hate the coalition and SARU. They believe that one must ‘get rich quickly or die trying’. Anything they do legally is often a front. They have contaminated our socio-cultural sphere, and many young minds whom they influence or brainwash into believing that conning the system makes one successful or a champion. Ironically, some who subscribe to that mindset often find themselves being subjects of those very wheelers and are merely utilized conveniently for errands of their predators.
Astonishingly, some of those individuals are now making their voices heard. They are beginning to smell the SARU coffee and belly-ache daily over State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA) legislation. To them corruption and abuse of state assets are such integral and acceptable elements of their successes that any accountable system must be challenged as undemocratic or an intrusion to their rights; their rights to continue perpetrating, collaborating, abetting and condoning the depletion of our State’s Assets.
What persisted in the past supported a questionable parallel economy. It placed Guyana in a real bubble. Now that the bubble has burst, the coalition Government finds itself in a precarious position; a position that may require austerity measures to prevent our country from slipping into recession.
Those who are guilty of contributing to the precipice that Guyana almost found itself in are increasing aware that SARU’s scope, intelligence and international reach will expose their former schemes. That fact fuels their trepidation, and the thought of a fully constituted and functioning SARA is the last thing they would ever desire.
The government and people of Guyana must remain resolute in their quest to recover stolen state assets and bring those who are directly responsible, their cohorts and abettors to justice.
The State Asset Recovery Unit (SARU) was set up by the Coalition Government to address State Asset abuses and concerns in Guyana. Its functionality is to ensure that stolen or misappropriated state assets are traced and recovered.
Fundamentally, assets of the state include Tax-payers funded tangibles, Land and Finance.
There is a hue and cry over some tax related aspects of budget 2017. But, the country cannot spend what it does not have. The Government has to find money from somewhere to effectively finance this country’s fiscal expenditures. That financing primarily comes from export earnings and taxation. I will not detail further economic factors, since I am no expert in this field, but wish to make the fundamental point that loss in revenues through the depletion of state assets over the years has placed a huge burden on this country and the average citizen as a whole.
For example, Guyana lost over US$50 Million (GYD$10.2 Billion) in 2014 on log exports to just one major importer alone.
Surely that money didn’t go towards our Mashramani, or building condominiums for aspiring University students. Indicators suggest that those funds found their ways into overseas banks and investments, strengthening the economies of some insouciant foreign countries. Those countries will be able to improve their own infrastructure, fill the bellies and educate their children at our loss of revenues and expense. Research reveals that those proceeds resulted from ‘UNDER-PRICING’ on our log exports at this port of origin. Under-pricing leads to lower export commissions than the law provides, and on massive scales of exports the loss of revenue is considerably high.
This government could have further reduced Value Added Taxes (VAT) had that fraction of lost earnings (assets) found its rightful place into our Consolidated Fund.
For this reason, the recovery of stolen state assets and their proceeds are of utmost importance. This country has suffered extensive losses in cash and kind. The State Asset Recovery Bill, once legislated, will result in the efficacy of an Agency that will have a concomitant positive impact on the county’s economy. Seventy-five percent (75%) of all recovered state asset proceeds will be paid directly into the Consolidated Fund.
The Washington DC based Global Financial Integrity group, in their 2015 report, ranked Guyana at 102 of 149 listed countries on the Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries Index, with an average revenue loss of USD$285 Million (GYD $58 Billions) per annum between 2004 – 2013. Comparatively, the average annual illicit cash flow from Antigua and Barbuda, ranked 144, was USD$5 Million and United Arab Emirates, ranked 148, with less than a Million US dollars. The People’s Republic of China was ranked No.1, with the most illicit financial flows of USD$139 Billion.
Guyana’s GDP for 2017 is pegged at approximately USD$3.7 Billion (GYD$750B).
Based on those statistics, it is conservatively estimated that our country would have been losing 13 – 20% of earnings over time through illicit financial flows alone. Just imagine the positive impact, if at least 10% of those funds were recovered and injected into our economy. Mind you, that is only derivative of illicit cash flows.
Eric Holder, former Attorney General of the United States, stated
“[W]e must work together to ensure that corrupt officials do not retain the illicit proceeds of their corruption. There is no gentle way to say it: When kleptocrats loot their nations’ treasuries, steal natural resources, and embezzle development aid, they condemn their nations’ children to starvation and disease. In the face of this manifest injustice, asset recovery is a global imperative.” (End of quote).
Every elected Government in the World has a fiduciary duty to prudently manage, preserve and protect its state’s assets. Guyana is no exception, as the majority of citizens expect the government to ensure accountability; fairness and equitable distribution of the nation’s resources are basic tenets.
If this country is to truly optimise its potential and enjoy all of its yields, there must be a united approach against the criminality that had so successfully woven itself within our public and private sectors, resulting in the horrendous loss and misuse of our State’s Assets.
The government would have failed the people of Guyana if it doesn’t succeed in ensuring safe passage of State Asset Recovery legislation in a timely manner.
Regards
Orette Cutting
