Customs probe must not vary from President’s ‘terms of reference’

Customs probe must not vary from President’s ‘terms of reference’
Stabroek News Business Editorial. Friday May 16, 2008.
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14366

This newspaper continues to advocate that the investigation into the Customs/Fidelity fraud be allowed to run its course, guided unerringly by the commitment given by the President that the investigation will be thorough, that it will “dig deep,” that there will be no immunity for people who might wish to activate their political connections, that the architects of the fraud will get their just deserts and that the investigation will extend beyond the Fidelity fraud.
We hold to this position despite the diametrically opposing view of individuals and institutions who have the same right to an opinion on the matter; and we understand fully what motivates the opposing sentiments. Quite simply, it is a matter of cynicism rooted in precedent.
Our own quite possibly minority view is that President Jagdeo’s forthright pronouncements about the Fidelity fraud and the anticipated outcomes of the investigation have placed the credibility of his administration on the line and we believe that the President was fully aware that if the investigatory procedures and outcomes vary from the ‘terms of reference’ which he himself so clearly set out, even more questions will arise about his government’s commitment to fighting official corruption.
While several senior GRA functionaries have already been sent on leave pending the outcome of the investigation, most of what has been revealed to the public about the investigation up to this time concerns the dismissal of a few Customs officers and other low-level functionaries and the subjecting of officers of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit to polygraph tests. Nothing yet about those who possess what the President described as “reach,” the ‘big fish,’ the masterminds behind the scam.
And until the investigation reaches that stage where the masterminds are unmasked we will continue to hear the shrill voices of the cynics calling for the enquiry to proceed apace and for the masterminds to be brought to justice.
In the circumstances there is every reason for the investigation to proceed as quickly as is humanly possible and the news that external help is being sought raises the possibility that the investigation may not be a speedy one given the procedures associated with securing external help. The point that should be made here is that the longer this investigation drags on without leading to definitive conclusions the stronger the public cynicism will grow about the outcome (s) of the enquiry.

Critical to the investigation is the revelation made by the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) that there is indeed a band of apparently well-placed racketeers masterminding frauds like the Fidelity scam, and it is the Commissioner General’s revelations, presumably, that prompted the President to promise that the investigation will “dig deep” and will go beyond the Fidelity matter. In this context the Commissioner General’s submissions to the investigating team, which ought to provide more details of his earlier revelation, will be absolutely critical to the proceedings. If only for this reason, therefore, it was more than a little comforting to hear from the Office of the Auditor General that the Commissioner General is not part of the investigating team, after all.
We make these observations since we believe that it is important the investigation itself remains wedded to the ‘terms of reference’ set out by the President in his pronouncement of a few weeks ago. We believe too, that where it might appear that those ‘terms of reference’ are being varied in such a manner as to threaten the fairness of the outcome – as outlined by the President – every effort should be made to ensure that this does not happen.

And if we are not unmindful of the persistence with which our editorial columns have been addressing this issue in recent weeks, we also believe that the issue of corruption is clearly one of those issues on the front burner of the political and public agenda and that the outcome of the Fidelity fraud investigation could mark an important watershed in what has been a long and intense public debate on issues associated with the quality of governance in our country.