Raid of Sattaur’s private residence

The recent visit by staff of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to the home of Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur, was not unprofessional or against any rules or maxims, but was simply to retrieve the property of taxpayers and the government.

The Revenue Authority on Friday sought to make clear that the only reason its staff visited the home of the Commissioner General was to take what belongs to the State.

Days after he was sent on 200 days leave by the new governing board of the body, the tax boss was visited by his junior staff who it was reported, took away his firearm and other items belonging to the state entity. It must be noted he is on leave.

The outcries were many, but Board Chairman Rawle Lucas told reporters the visit was given the go ahead by the commissioner himself.

“We felt compelled to protect the data of our taxpayers. The only thing that we were interested in receiving from the Commissioner was anything he had in his possession that related to the work of GRA”, Lucas told Journalists in a boardroom of GRA.

According to Lucas, when Sattaur proceeded on leave on December 17 last, the board agreed that he could retain possession of some things, with the understanding that all property and information that belong to GRA be removed and retained in the official repositories of the organisation.

Lucas said however there was some difficulty in obtaining compliance of the Commissioner with respect to that directive.

“We did also ask during that period to identify other persons who might have other property belonging to the GRA and which may not be under the control of the Authority. We did not receive a response from the Commissioner, but later found that few vehicles were under the control of persons who were not GRA staff”
He said the Commissioner was also questioned about what other property he had for GRA. It was later learnt he had six vehicles, one of which included a golf cart.

“Realizing that he was not complying, the board realized that it would be best to retrieve the property of the government. We had asked the IT staff to go the Sattaur house, with his approval to retrieve data, but before they went they were told that they could not go. We wanted to ensure the assets and property of the government was properly protected. We wanted to ensure that the data of taxpayers were properly protected. That is all we were interested in”, Lucas clarified.

He related that there was also a linkage from the GRA to Sattaur’s home. That linkage was disconnected following his departure on vacation leave.

Acting Commissioner Griffith said: “And according to our laws, we are protected in that area, we can take away that linkage until you return to work”, she said.

The board of directors last month said it took a unanimous decision to send the Commissioner General on leave with immediate effect.

During this period, government said it will be contracting an international firm to undertake a forensic audit of GRA. That is yet to begin, according to Lucas.

Reports indicate that the Commissioner General was expected to retire before the 200-day period is over.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon had indicated previously that the operations of the tax body were under review as part of government’s efforts to shake-up State entities and weed out alleged corrupt officials.
Meanwhile, the Private Sector Commission on Friday condemned the actions of GRA, saying it was both perturbed and concerned at the treatment of a very senior official who has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing

“To the best of our knowledge, Mr Sattaur is on leave from the entity pending the results of an inquiry. He has not been asked to resign and as such remains both the de jure and de facto head of the GRA. In the circumstances, if his electronic communication devices were required for purposes of the investigation, then the proper procedure would have entailed a request to Mr Sattaur to hand these over to the Board”, the PSC said.

It said it understands the invasion of Sattaur’s home was not conducted by the National Police armed with a warrant for search and seizure, noting that the move was a violation of his human rights.
“This searching of homes of officials of entities under investigation seems to have become common practice and we call upon President Granger to rein in what appears, from all accounts in the public domain, to be a show of excessive enthusiasm on the part of some persons”.