Crisis Center warns of rising smuggling activities

Crisis Center warns of rising smuggling activities

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Crisis Center, a unit under the Ministry of Trade and
Industry, said on Tuesday that smuggling of overseas products
into the country had significantly intensified during the past
couple of weeks due to laxity on the part of related authorities.

Chief executive of the Crisis Center Sofjan Wanandi said on
Tuesday that the authorities were reluctant to carry out the
joint agreement made with the center to fight smuggling and
undervaluation practices.

"The customs office and the police have no will to curb
smuggling although the center has provided them with a list of
suspected companies to be investigated," grumbled Sofjan.

The center has yet to announce the volume of the smuggled
goods as they are still waiting for the year-end reports made by
industry associations.

The joint agreement was made between the National Police, the
Directorate of Customs and Excise, the Directorate of Taxation
and the center in mid October this year to demonstrate the
government's seriousness in fighting smuggling and
undervaluation.

The agreement was also part of the center's function in
drawing up solutions and providing information for the
authorities in settling various problems faced by the business
sector.

In the first stage, the center had submitted to the
authorities a list of 15 companies to be investigated over
suspicions of smuggling and tax fraud which the center had
gathered based on information provided by the business
associations.

Several of the 15 companies are reputable firms engaged in the
distribution of garments and electronic goods.

The investigation is supposed to first focus on textile,
garment and electronics companies as such industries were the
worst affected by the smuggling practices.

After the signing of the agreement, Sofjan said that he had
heard from his men in Singapore that plans to send smuggled goods
into Indonesia were initially suspended in the island state, due
to fear that there would be stern action resulting from the above
agreement.

The illegal goods were subsequently kept in Singapore, waiting
for the right moment, otherwise known as the "green light", to be
smuggled into Indonesia.

Sofjan said that most of the goods in Singapore were garments
and textiles. The goods were initially to be sold in Indonesia
ahead of Idul Fitri.

However, during the past two weeks, smugglers have been
encouraged to bring in their illegal goods as no action was seen
after the signing of the agreement. In addition, the customs
office has been seen as slackening its control prior to the
holiday season.

"The agreement was just empty words as there was no action at
all afterwards which then encouraged recalcitrant companies to
release their goods and smuggle them into the country," said
Sofjan.

Sofjan added that the police had not investigated the
smuggling practices as they claimed they were busy with the
investigation into the Bali bomb blast.

As for the customs office, Sofjan said that the problem lay
with the inaction of high-ranking officials in the directorate.

"Frankly speaking, businessmen at the Crisis Center are
currently frustrated as no stern measures have been taken by the
authorities. All they do is just meet and talk, there has been no
action," said Sofjan.