Surveyor refutes reports on textile smuggling<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): State-owned PT Surveyor Indonesia (SI) refuted
\nyesterday the charge made by customs last week that it had filed
\nfalse reports for a certain amount of textile imports and
\nasserted that it had evidence which showed the officials' claims
\nwere untrue.<\/p>\n
SI's operations director Ray Williams, in response to
\nallegations made last week by the Directorate General of Customs
\nand Excise, said his office had photographs showing the condition
\nof the imports at the time the inspection took place and before
\nthe containers were sealed.<\/p>\n
\"(The photographs) clearly show the empty, half-loaded, fully
\nloaded and sealed containers, the condition of the bales, and the
\nmarking and check-weighing process,\" Williams said.<\/p>\n
\"PT SI wishes to assert that at the time these goods were
\ninspected, packed in the containers and the containers were
\nsealed, the weights were as declared and PT SI stands by its
\nfindings,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Directorate General of Customs and Excise said earlier
\nthis month that underweighing and underinvoicing of imports of
\ntextile and textile-related products worth more than US$5,000
\nwere the cause of rampant smuggling of those products into the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
The Director for Investigation and Elimination of Smuggling,
\nThomas Sugiyata, said his office had seized four 40-foot and two
\n20-foot containers of imported textiles and apparel which had
\nbeen underweighed.<\/p>\n
He specially invited journalists and members of the textile
\nassociation to see the six containers held up at the Tanjung
\nPriok port.<\/p>\n
Thomas said the six containers were equipped with surveyor
\nreports, meaning that they had been inspected at points of
\nloading by SI.<\/p>\n
Discrepancies<\/p>\n
After reinspection by customs officials, it was discovered
\nthat there were discrepancies between the weight listed in the
\nreports and that recorded by the customs office, Thomas added.<\/p>\n
Thomas said a 40-foot container and a 20-foot container of
\ntextiles shipped from Taiwan had been reported to weigh 9.5 tons,
\nbut customs revealed they actually weighed 33.9 tons, showing a
\nweight discrepancy of 24.4 tons.<\/p>\n
Customs' findings came shortly after the textile association
\nraised the issue of smuggled textiles earlier this month at a
\nmeeting with President Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Williams, however, said yesterday that five -- not six --
\ncontainers of textiles were in fact questioned by the customs
\noffice and reported to SI, and only two of them had been
\ninspected by SI.<\/p>\n
Of these five containers, he said, three had never been
\ninspected by SI. These were consigned to PT Jasa Mulya Sejahtera,
\nPT Manung Sejati and PT Himalaya Tunas Texindo.<\/p>\n
Two containers which had been inspected by SI -- both of which
\nwere consigned to PT Rajawali Sakti -- contained textile job lot
\nfabrics.<\/p>\n
The 40-foot container had 125 bales and the 20-foot container
\nhad 65 bales. The total declared gross weight as shown on the
\nsurveyor's report and the bill of lading and invoice was 9,964
\nkilograms. Customs said these actually weighed 33,914 kilograms,
\nresulting in a difference of 23,950 kilograms.<\/p>\n
\"These goods were inspected by SI in Taiwan and the inspection
\nreport is detailed ... Each bale is individually marked and based
\non a check weighing. The marks were found to be correct,\"
\nWilliams said.<\/p>\n
He said based on the examination of other textile shipments,
\nit was rather impossible to load only one 20-foot container and
\none 40-foot container with a combined total of 33 tons of textile
\nfabric, the average weight per container of other shipments being
\n6 tons.<\/p>\n
\"This is especially the case in view of the fact that the
\nshipment in question was a shipment of polyester cotton with a
\nweight of approximately five ounces per square yard, much lighter
\nthan the heavier denim fabrics, which weigh 14 ounces per square
\nyard,\" Williams said.<\/p>\n
Thomas in his allegations last week did not talk about
\nsmuggled textiles in shipments labeled as being valued at $5000
\nor less, which are not required to be inspected at points of
\nloading.<\/p>\n
Under the current preshipment inspection system, sea cargo
\nimports worth more than $5,000 must be inspected at points of
\nloading by the designated surveyor, state-owned PT Surveyor
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
Customs is only allowed to inspect sea cargo imports worth up
\nto $5,000 and air cargo imports. (pwn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/surveyor-refutes-reports-on-textile-smuggling-1447893297",
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