GRA confirms RUSAL shipping out equipment

–but not before taxes are paid

COMMISSIONER-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Godfrey Statia on Sunday confirmed that Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI), which is owned by Russian aluminum giant, RUSAL, last week shipped several pieces of machinery out of Guyana, but paid over $300M in taxes before it did.

Statia said that though the bauxite company is still under investigation, it paid approximately $60M for duty-free fuel, based on evidence garnered thus far.
Last Wednesday, photos surfaced of a barge and tug with equipment on board departing a port at the mouth of the Berbice River. It was suspected that BCGI, which is currently embroiled in a standoff with its Guyanese employees, was shipping its equipment to another location.

According to the Commissioner-General, GRA had stopped BCGI from shipping its equipment out of Guyana until all taxes on the machineries were paid. “I think sometime last week, they had to pay the tax on it. We charged them tax; [it] was over $300M. If they didn’t pay it, we would not have allowed it to go,” he explained. Based on his information, there were seven or eight pieces of equipment shipped out of the country by the Russian-owned company.

PLANNING TO SHIP OUT
According to Statia, the machinery was stalled at a location in Berbice after the GRA had swooped down on the area, having received word that the company was planning to ship the machinery out.
“That particular shipment was parked at a particular business place in Berbice, and after we got wind of it, we went down there and we locked it off. And until they paid the taxes, we did not release it,” Statia said. “We have been investigating RUSAL for a while, and based on investigations, as we catch them, they have to pay the taxes,” he added.

This latest development further fuels allegations by employees of BCGI that RUSAL is shutting down its operations in Guyana. RUSAL, which has a 90 per cent stake in BCGI, owns licences to develop Linden, Kwakwani and Ituni deposits groups in Guyana. BCGI was founded in 2004, with the other 10 per cent being owned by the Government of Guyana.
In February 2019, BCGI Executive Vladimir Permyakov made the damning declaration that in the 14 years it has been in operation here, BCGI has not been making significant profits. He was at the time defending the company’s inability to pay workers salary increases.
This is not withstanding the company being granted millions of dollars in tax and duty-free concessions while in operation here.

The company’s employees are lobbying to be paid what they believed is owed to them before the company shuts up shop.
When the company laid off 142 workers earlier in the year, on January 23, employees, with the support of residents in surrounding communities, erected a blockade across the Berbice River. The purpose of that barricade was to prevent the company from shipping equipment and materials from its Kurubuka mines.
The company subsequently laid off another 146 employees seven days later, on January 30, 2020, and then officially terminated the services of 326 employees on February 2, 2020 and suspended its operations.

SINCE LAST YEAR
Since last year, workers had been taking pictures and reporting that the company was removing equipment and machinery from the mines, and gradually downsizing its operations.

In February 2019, workers had had cause to similarly barricade the river when a total of 91 workers were fired by the company. Those workers were subsequently reinstated, and the company agreed to work on salary increase negotiations with the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GBGWU). However, one year on, the company and the union are still at loggerheads over the issue.

The company maintains a call for the river to be unblocked, while the Department of Labour has been pushing for the company to resume operations and rehire the workers, something the company is not committing to.
The workers, however, are convinced that the company has already made its decision to shut down its operations, and see the blockage as the only remaining leverage to the company paying the workers, in light of the removal of the equipment.

RISING TENSION
Last Thursday, tensions escalated when police went into the area to remove the blockage and clashed with resisting protestors. The blockage, however, was returned and has since been maintained.

Late last year, the GRA stepped in to investigate the company, following continued allegations that it was shipping out equipment and abusing its duty-free concession on fuel. Statia said the investigations are still ongoing, but wherever abuse has been proven, the company has been asked to pay its taxes.

“We are still reconciling the fuel,” Scotia said, adding: “Based on the initial findings that we had, they would’ve paid the taxes on what they could not have reconciled for, and we are continuing our reconciliation. They would’ve paid just over $60 million so far.”
He however made it clear that the bauxite company must pay all taxes before its machineries are shipped out of the country.

“I would ensure that all taxes are paid, because they should not be shipping out equipment unless, one, it is approved by me. And two, if they break that contract, it must also be approved by the minister of finance,” he explained.