Director charged for falsifying $40M invoice to GRA

Van West-Charles’ fuel company

Atlantic Fuels, a fuel company owned by former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) Richard Van West-Charles, a prominent supporter of the APNU/AFC and a former People’s National Congress (PNC) executive, was on Monday taken to court over falsifying an invoice for $40 million and declaring it to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).

The company’s Director, 67-year-old Eugene Gilbert, was summoned to attend court in December 2020, after Commissioner General of GRA Godfrey Statia filed a complaint against the company at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Gilbert pleaded not guilty to the charge after it was read to him by Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus. The charge stated that on November 12, 2020, at GRA’s Camp Street, Georgetown headquarters, Atlantic Fuels caused to be made and subscribed a false declaration on invoice number 100, contrary to the Customs Act. The invoice amount was US$200,000, which is equivalent to GY$40,000,000.
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. Gilbert returns to court on February 21, 2021, to collect statements.

When contacted on Monday, the company’s lawyer, Siand Dhurjon, would only state: “The charge will be keenly contested as it is both bad in law and facts.”
Guyana Times understands that the invoice was for 635,353 litres of diesel which was sourced from a company in Suriname. Atlantic Fuels Inc claimed that it shipped the fuel from company A for one price, but GRA said that it shipped it from company B for another price.
The fuel has since been seized and detained by the GRA and the Guyana Energy Agency.

Atlantic Fuels Inc has been embroiled in controversy. In 2019, the company had been under GRA’s radar for under-invoicing and falsifying invoices. As a result, GRA went after the fuel company for taxes for that year.
Also, in 2019, a city business, South American Breaking and Recycling Inc, filed a lawsuit against Van West-Charles, his company, and China Zhonghao Inc, over a fuel deal that reportedly went bad. South American Breaking and Recycling Inc claimed that it entered into an agreement with the parties in a joint venture using the licence of Atlantic Fuels to import fuel.
According to court documents, it was agreed that South American Breaking and Recycling Inc would import 639,000 litres of diesel at US$0.61 per litre and then sell it to China Zhonghao for $198 per litre. But South American Breaking and Recycling Inc claimed that its partners flouted the agreement.
The company further claimed that it was bypassed after Atlantic Fuels entered into an arrangement with China Zhonghao. The company alleged that the fuel shipment amounted to $126.5 million and that Atlantic Fuel and Van West-Charles refused to refund $12.4 million in expenses it had incurred.
Van West-Charles was granted the fuel import licence in 2015 under controversial circumstances, having registered the company in February 2015. At the time, however, persons familiar with the process had questioned how he qualified for the licence when a storage bond, environmental permits, and public notices to persons residing in the location are among the requirements which were not met.
Previous investigations done by this publication in 2016 had been unable to find a storage bond for Atlantic Fuels. Van West-Charles, who was appointed as GWI CEO a mere month before he gained his fuel import licence, was relieved of his duties days after the PPP entered office in August 2020.
Atlantic Fuels Inc has its headquarters at Lot 16 Sublot A Mudlot, Kingston, Georgetown.