Importers say bribery rampant at Tanjung Priok
Importers say bribery rampant at Tanjung Priok
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Importers Association is angry at
excessive red tape caused by customs officials at Tanjung Priok
port which it says has been increasing lately, the association's
chairman Amirudin Saud said yesterday.
The Directorate General of Customs and Excise, however, denied
the association's allegation, calling it very tendentious.
Amirudin said here that customs officials regularly issue
"memos" to importers to summon them and demand bribes from them.
"This is just to extort money from importers. And if importers
do not want to pay, the customs officials issues intelligence
notes to stall the clearance of imported goods," Amirudin told
journalists after receiving a business delegation from Poland.
According to Presidential Instruction No.3/1991, imports which
are equipped with a Clean Report of Findings issued by the
officially designated surveyor company (PT Surveyor Indonesia),
are no longer subject to inspection by customs officials at
Indonesian ports. However, inspection is allowed whenever customs
officials have intelligence information on violations of import
procedures. Such information is issued in intelligence notes.
He said that in the first three months of this year alone, his
association had recorded 1,063 memos issued by Division Two of
the directorate general's smuggling prevention and investigation
office at Priok.
One memo, Amirudin said, can cost an importer Rp 1 million
(US$427) to Rp 2 million, depending on the amount and value of
the imported goods.
"When importers get such memos, they usually prefer to pay
bribes to customs officials because arguing with the officials
usually results in the issuance of intelligence notes, which
means more losses to importers," Amirudin said.
He added that an intelligence note can cost an importer Rp 4
million to Rp 5 million, depending on the value of the imported
goods.
He said earlier that since late last year his association had
recorded more than 300 intelligence notes issued by the Division
Two head of the smuggling prevention and investigation office.
When the clearance of imported goods is stopped by customs
officials, importers usually prefer bribing officials rather than
following official procedures because they cannot claim the
losses incurred by such delays and physical inspection even if
the intelligence notes turn out to be false.
The director of smuggling prevention and investigation at the
Directorate General of Customs and Excise, Thomas Sugijata,
yesterday denied these accusations, saying that the issuance of
intelligence notes by his office is still in accordance with the
existing regulations.
However, he assured the importers that if the association's
accusations turn out to be correct, the director general of
customs and excise would take tough measures against errant
customs officials.
He explained that the issuance of intelligence notes is a
lengthy process, which involves a series of intelligence
activities based on information from domestic as well as overseas
sources.
In the processing of information, Thomas said, his office has
always followed the international customs system, as recommended
by the World Customs Organization through its manual on measures
to combat commercial fraud.
When the processed information is considered to be accurate,
it must be put into intelligence notes to allow customs officials
to physically inspect the suspected goods.
He claimed that his office had issued only 122 intelligence
notes for imported goods in the first three months of this year.
As a result, he claimed, the smuggling prevention office found 59
cases of under-invoiced goods, totaling Rp 876 million. (rid)