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)