Chief Justice orders GRA, GEA to pay $12M in storage costs to Atlantic Fuels

Acting Chief Justice Roxane George on Monday ordered the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) to pay $12,825,000 in storage costs to Atlantic Fuels Inc (AFI) after the court found that 635,353 litres of diesel imported by the company were unlawfully seized by the State agencies.
The Chief Justice further ordered that for every additional day that the fuel is held, $113,500 is to be paid. Justice George also ordered that GRA and GEA are to pay the cost of the lawsuit filed by AFI. This is according to AFI’s lawyer, Siand Dhurjon, who released a brief statement on the matter.
In early February, Justice George ordered GRA to release over $80 million in fuel it had seized from AFI, whose main Director is Richard Van West-Charles, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Water Inc (GWI). In ordering the release of the fuel, Dhurjon said that the Chief Justice noted that both the GRA and GEA acted unlawfully in seizing the fuel, since, among other things, over $20 million had been paid in fees and taxes for its importation.
On November 1, 2020, AFI imported diesel fuel into Guyana. Then, the GEA had said that after its investigations, it was revealed that the fuel was purchased from Staatsolie, a Surinamese company, and not Global Oil as stated in documents by AFI. Consequently, the 635,353 litres of fuel were seized.
AFI, however, refuted making any false allegations and filed a lawsuit against GRA Commissioner General Godfrey Statia and GEA CEO, Dr Mahender Sharma.
Justice George in her ruling declared that the fuel was the property of AFI and that the GRA and the GEA acted illegally and unconstitutionally in their actions to prevent the marking and clearance of the fuel so that AFI could successfully import it.
In the meantime, one of AFI’s Directors, Eugene Gilbert, is currently before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on a charge which alleges that the company made a false declaration to the GRA on November 12, 2020. The 67-year-old man pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted $300,000 bail.
The charge was instituted under Section 217 (1) (a) of the Customs Act, which reads: “Any person who, in any matter relating to the customs, or under the control or management of the Comptroller – (a) makes and subscribes, or causes to be made and subscribed, any false declaration; or…”
On summary conviction, the person is liable to a fine of $25,000, together with imprisonment for three years. AFI has been embroiled in controversy ever since it began operations. It was granted a licence by the GEA in 2015 to import, wholesale, and store fuel. (G1)