–taskforce established, heavy scrutiny of declarations, co-operation with bilateral partners among steps to address illegal operations

A SERIES of measures, including the establishment of a taskforce and heavy scrutiny of declarations, have been instituted by the government to address the issue of gold smuggling.
This was according to President, Dr Irfaan Ali, during a press conference at State House, on Thursday.

The illegal act of gold smuggling is an age-old issue that has plagued Guyana for a number of years, and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has outlined its rigid approach to cracking down on such illicit operations.
While the current gold exportation procedure is rigid and possesses a very strong paper trail, gold smugglers, over the years, have crafted very intricate ways to carry out the illegal operations.
Owing to this, the government is aiming to make the system more ironclad. The President said that after a thorough assessment, they have identified several weaknesses and are working to tighten loose ends.
As a direct response, a taskforce has been created which includes the Attorney-General, the Minister of Finance, the Commissioner General of GRA, Head of the FIU, the Governor of the Central Bank and the Guyana Gold Board.
The group has the responsibility of examining ways to further strengthen the system to address the issue of gold smuggling.

Further, among the several measures that are being pursued, is stronger bilateral cooperation in order to further strengthen the existing system and areas. The government is also looking at the harmonization of tax policies and anti-money laundering measures.
The international co-operation will see treaties, agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoU), he said. Additionally, technology will play an essential role in making the system firmer.
The President said: “We will have to use technology to develop data analytics and maybe look at ways we can use technology to do tracking through GPS, radio frequency identification.”
He then said: “These are all things this group [the taskforce] will look at and report to me in a short timeframe so that we can work on a further enhancement and improvement of the system.”

Dr Ali said that this measure has been initiated as the government waits for more details regarding recent sanctions imposed on the Mohameds and Permanent Secretary Mae Thomas by the United States (US) Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The Head of State said: “The recent sanctions, as you know, the agencies are currently continuing their work to examine the implications and more importantly, I have now asked the Guyana Revenue Authority to seek further information… at all export locations on gold exported by other gold dealers to have information to see whether it matches what is declared in our system.”