IN LIGHT of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) boarding a vessel “Jubilee” which contains over 20,000 gallons of fuel alleged to have been smuggled, the government on Friday said the matter is being actively addressed by the relevant agencies.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon said the revenue authority and the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) “are doing a good job so far in identifying these matters where they occur and to deal with perpetrators”.

The minister denied having knowledge of a senior government minister having ties to the ship that was boarded by the GRA.

“I am not aware of that. I cannot confirm or deny anything about that,” said Harmon. GRA this week through its Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia said that the vessel would only be released when an estimated $36M in taxes are paid to the revenue authority. While the vessel has not been seized by the GRA, it will remain 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 who acknowledged that there are some shortcomings at the “[Customs] boat house end”. 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”.

Meanwhile, Harmon told reporters at a post-Cabinet briefing on Friday that there are several processes that have been put in place to identify fuel that is for use here. He specifically pointed to the marking of fuel. But while measures have been put in place to identify smuggled fuel, the Minister of State reminded that the country’s coast lines and borders are vast.

“Therefore it is quite difficult for you to be able to police every square inch of it. So from time to time, vessels will actually come into the country with contraband items. It is important however, that once they come to a port that we are able to inspect, to board and once determined that the items are contraband, the revenue authority does what it is required to do and the GPF does what it has to,” he stated.

At a press conference hosted by Statia earlier this week, he said that fuel smuggling continues to be a problem despite efforts to thwart same. 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.
He added: “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.”