The Bureau of Customs (BOC)-RATS Program in its all-out war on smuggling has once again caused the filing of a criminal complaint before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against a trader and his broker for the unlawful importation of soya bean oil worth 18 million.
Slapped with complaint for technical smuggling areCHRISTIAN M. ADAN owner-proprietor of SEA PROBE TRADING and his broker HOMER P. AQUINO.
On 1 March 2012, Adan and Aquino unlawfully brought into the country 15×20 containers refined, bleached and deodorized soya bean oilthat arrived at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) from Malaysia in violation of Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines and the Revised Penal Code.
Customs Commissioner Rozann oRufino B. Biazon said that Sea Probe Trading, allegedly tried to make windfall profits by declaring the shipment as FR-U, a commodity with zero tariff under the Asean Free Trade Agreement (Afta), to evade payment of duties.
“Sea Probe should have paid a 7-percent rate of duties for it but the shipment was grossly undervalued by $232,685 or about P10 million The company did not only misdeclare and undervalue their soya-bean oil shipment, they also used fake AFTA Certification supposedly issued by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia,clearly, this would have been a double black eye for the government”, Commissioner Biazon added.
For his part, Deputy Commissioner Horacio Suansing said that Sea Probe Trading deprived the government of revenues and put at risk the businesses of legitimate cooking-oil manufacturers in the country.
Commending Deputy Commissioner Suansing and his men, Commissioner Biazon cited that the discovery of the fraud prevented the government from incurring losses amounting to millions of pesos in loss revenue.
Deputy Commissioner Peter M. Manzano, on the other hand, said, to date, the RATS Group has filed a total of 38 cases under the watch of Commissioner Biazon.
The RATS Group has lived up to its mandate, to curb smuggling activities through continuous case profiling/building and active prosecution of smuggling cases. Having in mind the leadership of the Honorable Commissioner in accordance with the directive of His Excellency, President Benigno S. Aquino, rest assured that the RATS Group will relentlessly and continuously combat smuggling in all forms, in all ports and at all costs, Manzano ended.
