MAJOR CORRUPTION SCANDAL HITS GPA-STATE GUARDS AND CUSTOM OFFICIALS IMPLICATED!!!!!SHIPPED CARS CLEARED WITHOUT OWNERS PAYING TAXES
   
              BY JUSTICE SAM AND KARAFA BADJIE    

   
  Well placed sources at the heart of The Gambia Ports authority in Banjul, have unveiled a major corruption racket involving some certain members of the State Guards, who cleared shipped vehicles from the Ports, without paying taxes. 
   
  This reporter, who visited the Ports was told that the State Guards were exempted from paying taxes, even though there was no such provision in the country's maritime laws.  A number of soldiers had been clearing goods for their loved ones, and friends abroad on the pretext of receiving kickbacks from such clients. 
   
  Freedom Newspaper investigations  into the graft reveals that the practice had been going on for sometime now without Port officials, stopping the said soldiers involved in the corruption racket. A Gambian resident in abroad told this paper that a military seargent named (withheld for now) had cleared fleets of vehicles for him at the Ports without passing through the normal port tariff channels. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the concerned Gambian says he compensated the  soldier for clearing the said vehicles for him.
   
  In some instances, continued our sources  the soldiers received vehicles from overseas clients mainly residing in  Germany, Belgium and Australia. Our investigations also pointed a possible conspiracy between the said implicated soldiers and local customs agents posted at the Ports. We gathered that certain Customs and Ports officials also benefited from the graft.Our competent sources hinted that part of the monies collected by the "State Guards"shipping agents are shared among local port workers who gave them free passage to clear goods.  
   
  The Freedom Newspaper, also received a  list of soldiers  who cleared goods from the Ports between 2002 to 2005.The list was forwarded to our news room by an insider at the GPA, who claimed to be privy of the corruption racket involving certain members of the State Guards. The source said the impoverished West African country, had been denied development by what he called "these corrupt" soldiers acting in the name of the President's office. 
   
   Under the country's Maritime laws, the State Guards are not exempted from paying taxes. Duty waivers are  usually issued to non profit organisations. It is reported that some of the soldiers implicated in the racket have succeeded in owning commercial vehicles and properties in The Gambia. 
   
                   Insiders at the GPA said the seaport taxes are considered exorbitant in some quarters and as such some people prefer to use the "back door" to evade taxes. The insiders say the magnitude of the said "graft is reaching an alarming proportion."
   
                  
    
Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 (Archive on Tuesday, February 28, 2006)
Posted by PANDERRYMBAI  Contributed by PANDERRYMBAI
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