Shaw wants his money
Published:Saturday | July 17, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Patrina Pink, Gleaner Intern
Detectives are searching for the masterminds of a major criminal ring who have been skilfully depriving the country's coffers of millions in customs duties.
Seventeen persons, including customs brokers, truck drivers and wharf workers were arrested yesterday following a major operation at the Port of Kingston, and sections of the Corporate Area Thursday night.
Finance Minister Audley Shaw last night said the arrest of these persons, particularly those employed to customs, does not come as a surprise.
"I have warned continuously that we are going to close the doors to corruption at the Customs Department. I warned that we would arrest people and lock them up because we are adopting a zero-tolerance approach to corruption at customs," Shaw told The Gleaner.
Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker said yesterday that the operation, which led to the seizure of washing machines, LCD and plasma televisions, refrigerators and electronic and stereo systems, may have cost the country more than $150 million in customs duties.
"... We have followed the containers and the distribution network to get to all the players," Walker said.
"We have been getting to all the persons who are going to sell the final products and we believe that those persons will be able to lead us to the masterminds," Walker added.
Shaw has promised that the State "will not stop until we find the masterminds."
"We are going to be relentless and unwavering as we move to protect the revenue of customs," the finance minister added, while noting that a crackdown on corruption in recent months has increased the revenue collected by customs.
Disparities discovered
Customs officials were alerted to the scam after they discovered disparities between the arrival and release documentation and duties paid for a number of containers housed at the ports. Further checks uncovered that 30 containers had been illegally removed from as early as November 2009 .
Police investigations led to the discovery of two drop-off points in the Kingston 10 area. Premises in the area were searched and revealed five containers of uncustomed appliances.
Walker described the activities as a conspiracy and said that the workers exploited their intimate knowledge of the port and customs system.
"Our records have also indicated that all containers were scanned with no anomalies noted," said Walker.
Meanwhile, Walker has said that the effect of uncustomed goods being sold in the marketplace could be devastating for the economy.
"It could encourage or force legitimate businesses to almost adopt these practices to be able to survive," Walker said.
"It's one thing for us to lose the revenue, but it puts legitimate businesses at peril," Walker added.
Shaw has also promised that "more information will be revealed in the days ahead as we unearth additional cases of fraud against the State."