[www.inewsguyana.com] – The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) says that the privately contracted security firm, Professional Guard Services (PGS), having received and reviewed the security footage of the activities at GRA’s Warehouse facility, has positively identified personnel from its service as being actively involved in the criminal act and the suspects have since named their accomplices.
The men are accused of stealing some $6M worth in foreign liquor from the warehouse at Eccles, Eaat Bank Demerara. According to a statement issued by the GRA, the said personnel were questioned in the presence of their Supervisors, Officers from the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and staff of the GRA’s Law Enforcement and Investigation Division (LEID) and subsequently placed in police custody.
“The GRA continues to hold PGS responsible for the loss and is awaiting the necessary response before considering further action. It should be noted that GRA’s Internal Audit Division is currently engaged in a comprehensive audit of the warehouse to determine whether other thefts may have occurred and to ascertain possible weaknesses in the system of internal control that could have contributed to and prevented a more timely disclosure of such occurrences,” the statement noted.
On May 13, 2015 during a routing inventory exercise, Officers of LEID discovered the items missing.
I do not know how long this liquor has been at the GRA bond, but an audit needs to be done to determine whether what is in stock matches what is on record. Next, take steps to dispose of items that have been in the bond for more than 12 months, unless they are being held as evidence in a court action.
And given that the GRA reported items were stolen from its bond, it may be a good time for the Ministry of Home Affairs to do an audit of cocaine seized by the police and CANU to determine whether the quantity that is in storage matches the actual records. This is where investigative journalism of media houses helps make news as opposed to waiting for news.