A VESSEL containing over 200,000 gallons of fuel alleged to have been smuggled has been held by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia told reporters on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference at his Camp Street, office, Statia said the vessel “Jubilee” would only be released when an estimated $36M in taxes are paid to the Revenue Authority.

“The vessel has just over 200,000 plus gallons and the taxes would be just about $36M,” the Commissioner General stated, while recalling a case where the captain of a vessel was last year fined

$20M for bringing in a vessel containing fuel and not declaring same. This, he said, was in addition to taxes and fines.

He explained that the boat has not been seized but has been boarded until all taxes have been paid up. “We recognised that the fuel was not declared and …we decided to board the vessel,” Statia said, while acknowledging that there are some shortcomings at the “[Customs] boat house end” affecting his entity. He assured that GRA is working to iron out its issues. “Days after the fuel were not marked. We have now gone to look at the maritime records to see the frequency in which this boat would have or the fuel would have been coming into Port Georgetown. We are also checking with the Harbour Bridge to see the frequency with which these boats would be passing through the Harbour Bridge,” Statia stated.

The Commissioner-General made it clear that based on the information garnered from the maritime records and from the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB), the GRA would be in a better position to determine whether there was actually a hiccup in its system or “the person was actually trying to smuggle fuel”.

Statia made it clear that whatever the end result, fuel smuggling continues to be a problem despite efforts to thwart it. He blamed the challenges faced by his entity on the lack of sufficient resources given the number of persons granted fuel import licences by the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA). There are approximately 100 licensed fuel importers, Statia told reporters, while disclosing that the GRA has signed a MOU with the GEA to work together.

“There is no use the GEA grants an import licence and GRA doesn’t know or things are not in place for us to actually check the fuel,” he said, pointing to the fact that fuel exempted from taxes and destined for Mabaruma and other hinterland locations have found its way into Georgetown and some parts of the Essequibo. “We have to be extremely vigilant. It will always happen as long as there is cheap fuel at our border regions…people will always try to buy that cheap fuel and try to bring it into the country,” Statia noted.