Surridge
Damion Mitchell, Staff Reporter
THE GOVERNMENT will be seeking to amend the Customs Act next year as part of efforts to contain losses in customs duties due to under-invoicing of imported items.
Mike Surridge, head of the Financial Investigation Division (FID) told The Gleaner on Thursday that the amendments, which have already been drafted by the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, would allow for all invoices found in possession of an importer to be accepted as evidence in the courts in cases against importers.
He said at present only the invoice produced though the maker or supplier of imported items is acceptable as evidence. However, there have been instances where importers have been found with two invoices for the same shipment.
According to Mr. Surridge, one of the invoices usually indicates significantly small quantities of items and is presented to Customs officers in order to pay less import duties, while the second invoice reflects larger amounts and is retained by the importer for accounting purposes.
DOCUMENTS AS EVIDENCE
"We have an amendment which clearly states that when a person is before the court for an offence against the Customs Act, any piece of document found in his possession whether compu-terised or not shall be acceptable in evidence."
This he said would leave the onus on the importer to prove that the second document is false.
He said because of the knowledge of the current system, people smuggling 'set up' companies who send goods under incorrect invoices.
The FID head said he was particularly keen about this amendment, as under World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations, there will be a new valuation system which will be dependent on a Government's ability to produce a library of prices so that the duties can be calculated based on the average of those prices over a period.
