Ship found with smuggled fuel to pay $36M in taxes

…no word on charges

The directors of the company that owns a shipping vessel which was discovered with over 200,000 gallons of suspected smuggled fuel last week will have to pay some $36 million in taxes to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
This disclosure was made on Monday by GRA Commissioner General Godfrey Statia, who said that the vessel was not seized, but the Agency has impounded the vessel until the taxes have been paid.
Statia was referring to the vessel named Jubilee, which entered the Georgetown port on Friday, but its officials failed to disclose that it had fuel to customs officials until checks were made.

At present, the GRA is examining records from the Maritime Administration Department and Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation to determine the number of times the vessel had entered Guyana.
The Commissioner General said this would determine if there were some logistical issues or if the vessel was in fact smuggling fuel. However, he said some inadequacies were discovered at the Customs Boathouse.
According to him, persons made attempts to falsify an entry after the boat was already boarded.
Statia said a similar seizure last year saw the captain being fined $20 million, to release the vessel. While he did not confirm if this same approach would be taken in this matter, he did not rule it out.
According to reports, the fuel transported on the vessel was purchased in Trinidad with Suriname as the destination port. After that arrangement fell through, however, the vessel reportedly docked here.
Reports indicate that Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) agents boarded the vessel, which was carrying fuel tanks and pumps after the crew was unable to provide the requisite documentation.
Information also suggests that a senior Government official and a local sports official have direct links to the vessel, which is owned by a company incorporated in Guyana under the Companies Act in 2016.
These individuals are said to be shareholders of the company since 2017. One of the aforementioned company shareholders is in fact the designated secretary of the company. However, on Monday, efforts to contact the GEA on the matter proved futile. However, a source close to the investigation told Guyana Times, there has been no word on any charges on the matter.
Last year, the GEA’s Fuel Marking Division (FMD) was reportedly able to seize over 11,000 gallons of illegal fuel as part of its fight against fuel smuggling.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was recently signed between the GRA and GEA to work closely to stamp out fuel smuggling which the GRA boss said was producing results.