The Culture Digest - Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Parliament Gets Tough on Crime - Smurfing and Tax Evasion: Two Guyanese National Pastimes - Fire Chief sounds the alarm over missing funds -Man drunkenly stabs cousin with an arrow
Good morning Guyana!
Welcome to the Tuesday, December 14, 2021, edition of The Culture Digest.
Here’s what happened since the last edition. Parliament Gets Tough on Crime… Smurfing and Tax Evasion: Two Guyanese National Pastimes… Fire Chief sounds the alarm over missing funds… Man charged for fatally stabbing cousin with an arrow. AG report slams APNU+AFC government’s pandemic response.
TOP STORY
Parliament is in Session
Parliament is now in session, and it seems like it's a "Let's get tough on crime, so we seem like we're actually doing something" session. On Day One, they managed to pass an amendment to the law, which now explicitly criminalizes designer drugs. Possession of 15 grams or more will attract a jail sentence. (As if the prisons aren’t already overcrowded and full of youthful non-violent offenders.) The Parliamentarians also voted in favor of the Police (Amendment) Bill 2021, which now gives police less-lethal weapons such as tasers, mace, and nightsticks. (So, instead of training officers in conflict resolution skills and self-defense, they plan to solve the problem of fatal police shootings by turning them into fatal police beatings.)  However, the Opposition only supported the bill after the Attorney General dropped the proposed DNA collected clause. (The clause in the law APNU initially proposed). Finally, the National Assembly unanimously approved the Firearms (Amendment) Bill, which allows for the hiring of forensic specialists such as ballistics analysts without the need to possess a firearm license.
BUSINESS/NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
What the Smurf?
According to the Financial Intelligence Unit, smurfing was one of the most common forms of suspicious transactions discovered in 2019. The authorities automatically flag transactions over $10,000 US, so to avoid detection, money launderers/tax evaders will structure their transactions below that amount. This is known as smurfing or structuring. According to the 2019 FIU report, in Guyana, there were 258 of these transactions in 2019, accounting for more than 60% of all suspicious transactions investigated at the time. The FIU reported 467 suspicious transactions in 2019 compared with 331 in 2018.
Tax Evasion: A Guyanese Tradition
According to the Auditor General, over 90% of self-employed Guyanese adults did not file their tax returns last year. Last year, 102,741 or 91.17% of the 112,691 registrants did not file their returns. It means that only 9,950 or 8.83% filed Returns, reflecting $5.024 billion GYD in collected revenue. (In Guyana, tax evasion is not just a rich people's sport, it's a national pastime.)
POLITICS
Missing Money Alarms Fire Chief
Speaking of financial mismanagement, Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo is warning Robeson Benn that someone is defrauding the Fire Service of possibly millions of dollars. Edoo stated that he launched an internal investigation after noticing a disparity in fees collected to the number of safety certificates and other documents issued from the department. Based on the chart provided to Benn, from February to July 2021, only 956 receipts were accounted for while some 2,594 documents were issued. Therefore, monies for 1638 documents issued cannot be accounted for. Edoo is also calling for the person responsible for the transactions to account for the missing money.
Auditor-General Report slams APNU/AFC Government's Rona response
If it wasn't apparent by now, the Coalition government majorly fumbled its pandemic response. But an Auditor-General's report now explains that the State made millions of dollars worth of unverified payments. Worse yet, over 9,000 of the 11,000 people who applied for relief from the Coalition government were denied assistance without explanation. Overall, the Coalition allocated $1 billion towards its pandemic response. (How much it went to where it was supposed to is anyone’s guess.)
Vishnu Persaud is expected to be sworn in today as GECOM's next Chief Election Officer.
HEALTH/PUBLIC SAFETY
Even though it may not seem like it, Minister Benn claims that violent crime is down 21%. (But to be fair, if you don't bother to report it, in the eyes of the law, the crime didn't happen.)
But if it's any consolation, since this administration came into office, 16 security firms have been issued firearm licenses. But the Home Affairs Ministry neglected to mention how many private citizens were granted a license in this period. (I know, it’s not consoling, but I needed a good segue.)
FUN FACT: 90% of the nation's coastal drainage infrastructure is operational.
SAD STAT:Â Over 5,000 households have already been affected by floodwaters.
CRIME
33-year-old businessman David Smith has just pleaded guilty to killing his 19-year-old cousin Dave Boyal with an arrow in 2019.
On Sunday, a 43-year-old man in Lethem was arrested after he severely beat the 27-year-old mother of his child when she refused to reconcile the relationship.
On Monday, the cops arrested 20-year-old fugitive murder suspect Shane Samaroo and his mother, Irene Seecharan, for harboring him at Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder Backlands.
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