2005News

Customs go for “big fish”

Customs director Miguel Cocco has announced that his office was “tired of getting the intermediaries”, and that they were now going after the “big fish”, who finance contraband activities. The head of Customs said that he was unhappy with the Justice Department and described it as a “brake” on the efforts of his department to counter customs tax evasion. As examples, Cocco mentioned 39 cases that were duly backed up with evidence and confessions that produced a sentence of just two months of prison “for the most unfortunate of the lot.” Cocco told reporters from El Caribe that, so far, the process of re-assessment of customs tariffs has generated RD$2.8 billion for the treasury. Cocco also said that he had worked out deals with Panama and the United States that facilitate the detection of contraband and lead to the apprehension of the people that finance the tax evasion schemes. The United States will facilitate a cross check of information and a similar agreement is in the works with Panama. Cocco pointed out that these are the two countries that send the largest contraband shipments, but this does not mean that local officials are involved in the operations, but probably a lack of controls, as in the DR. However, the cross-referencing of data will allow the Dominican authorities to reconstruct their business files and find out who paid for the merchandise in the first place.