Findings of an internal investigation launched by Customs has uncovered more irregularities in the collection of Customs duty at Andros, it was disclosed yesterday.
The investigation revealed that more than 24 shipments, confiscated in March 2005 were either uncustomed or under-valued.
Minister of State for Finance James Smith, who also has responsibility for Customs, told The Tribune yesterday that of this 24, six shipments have already been processed and their owners categorized as “innocent third parties” in what has become widely labelled as a “syndicate-like” Custom’s scam.
“Six of these 24 have already been processed. Of the six, four were cautioned and charged with Custom’s duty and stamp tax amounting to some $39,600.
“In one of the cases, there was no case to answer as the item was duty free under the Family Island Development Act. However there was one fine of $5,000 for a breach of Customs laws,” he said.
Mr Smith said that the six owners interviewed were categorized as innocent third parties and charged with stamp tax.
Last year a raid performed on March 31 in the Morgan’s Bluff area resulted in more than $290,000 worth of goods being confiscated.
Days later a second raid netted another stash of uncustomed goods, including cars, motorcycles, a tractor head and a trailer full of alcoholic beverages.
When interviewed at that time, Customs Comptroller John Rolle said that the impression was that such activities had been taking place in Andros for “quite some time.” He stressed that the Customs department had their suspicions as to whom the goods were destined for in Nassau, but would not release that information at the time.
At the time of the raids, one source in Andros said that the goods confiscated only “scratched the tip” of an iceberg of Customs collection abuses on the island.
According to reliable sources, these activities have been going on in Andros for years. They said it has become an efficient system in which items come pre-wrapped in black tape, and falsely labelled.
In some cases the trailers were allegedly not properly examined and simply shipped on to New Providence – unchecked and unvalued.
By PAUL G TURNQUEST Tribune Staff Reporter
