A worrying number of individuals and businesses are failing to comply with the requirements of the Customs Department, in some cases submitting fraudulent documents as they import items into the country.
Minister of Finance Ryan Straughn and new Comptroller of Customs Lynette Padmore raised this concern yesterday, reporting that continuing fraudulent practices, such as under-invoicing and the mis-labelling of shipped items, were a threat to the country’s border security, reduced Government’s revenue and could result in consumers paying higher prices.
Straughn shared an instance where someone shipping a Mercedez Benz to Barbados “presented invoices saying that the Mercedes is [valued at] $10 000”, as he urged all importers to “do the right thing” by complying.
Padmore, who called compliance failures “our bugbear”, said the challenges were not limited to individuals, disclosing that some organisations that were benefiting from Government concessions were misusing the assistance.
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