Customs office boosts inspection at seaports to curb smuggling
Customs office boosts inspection at seaports to curb smuggling
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Directorate General of Customs and Excise has recently
intensified its supervision in a number of seaports in a bid to
help curb rampant smuggling and corruption.
Director General of Customs and Excise Eddy Abdurrachman told
The Jakarta Post on Saturday that his office had assigned more
personnel in three ports considered as "hot spots" for smuggling,
including the Tanjung Nibung Port on the eastern coast of
Sumatra, Pontianak Port in West Kalimantan and Batam Port.
"Due to the lack of supervision in the previous years, the
three ports have become a hotbed of smuggling. This year we have
sent hundreds of extra personnel to (properly) supervise the
ports," said Eddy.
He said that the goods smuggled into the three ports varied.
Batam had been long seen as the gateway for car-smuggling from
Singapore, while Pontianak and Tanjung Nibung are known for
widespread smuggling of agricultural products and household goods
from Malaysia.
Once the illegal goods arrive at the ports, the importers will
negotiate a bribe with customs personnel to issue the necessary
documents, usually stating that the goods were produced
domestically.
Products are then shipped to other ports in Indonesia such as
to the international port in Tanjung Priok. The customs office in
Tanjung Priok will not conduct an inspection as the containers
are "officially" documented as domestic.
Eddy said that for this year, any delivery from the three
conventional ports to other areas in Indonesia would undergo a
second customs inspection.
He also said that the customs office would intensify
monitoring at international ports like the Tanjung Priok Port in
Jakarta, Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya and Belawan Port in
Medan.
However, for the three ports the customs would not only focus
on smuggling, but also tax fraud practices.
Tax fraud practices include manipulation of import duties and
import taxes which have caused the state to suffer an estimated
loss of Rp 8 trillion (US$909 million) per year.
To prevent such practices at international ports, the
directorate, starting in April this year, will oblige all
importers to register their companies with the customs office to
make sure they do not use fake identities and addresses.
Many importers have cheated on the self-assessment system by
undervaluing their import duties and import taxes before clearing
their goods. Customs officials have also taken bribes from
importers to make the crime possible.
The importers then pay the artificially low taxes and duties
based on their self-assessment reports as a formality to clear
their goods.
After claiming their goods, the importers quickly vanish to
avoid being charged later by customs officials for underpayment.
The customs officials claim to be unable to find them again, as
they submitted fake addresses in the first place.