MANDEVILLE, Manchester – Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker has issued a strong warning to business people whom he accused of robbing Government millions of dollars in revenues by importing illegal items into the country and under-invoicing their imports.

A tough-talking Walker, who was addressing Rotarians at a luncheon at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville on Tuesday, said particularly where agriculture was concerned, there were “a handful of persons who make a lot of money from bringing in fruits and vegetables into Jamaica”.

“And they make big profits by avoiding paying the proper duties, under-invoicing, and they also bring in produce without the proper permits,” he charged.

He said the Jamaica Customs Department intends to go after tax evaders and expose them by releasing their names to the public.

“Don’t bother to call and bawl and call this minister or that minister. Most ministers will tell you, it don’t really make a lot of difference. If you’re wrong, I’m just going to say you’re wrong. If you try and treat us like fools, I’m going to prove to you that we’re not fools,” he said.

He said he has mandated his workers to come down hard on persons who deliberately under-invoice their imports, particularly agricultural produce. “It’s going to be a very inconvenient fight. There are times when you’re going to hear ‘how Customs believe in trade facilitation yet they’re giving these businesses a hard time?’ I want you to remember there are a handful of business (owners), who, for their own selfish goals, are prepared to destabilise the industry,” Walker said.

Pointing to the high volume of agricultural imports into the island, Walker said though Government has a list of banned substances according to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, unscrupulous business people are “prepared to bribe officer” and bring them in the island.

“They’re prepared to do anything to get these goods off the ports when they shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” he said. “This is the list of goods they want to carry in, because it gives them a competitive edge over others.” Walker said while he was not advocating protectionism, the local agriculture industry was being undermined by these imports.

He called on “major players” in “certain industries” to recommit to the Jamaican farmer by giving them a market for their produce. “I don’t interpret trade facilitation to mean a lack of regulations. Trade facilitation is to ensure a level playing field and ensure access to markets through better systems in customs.”

Meanwhile, Walker said although some business operators were not importing the illegal goods themselves, they were doing business with the offenders and pretending not to know that the goods were illegally imported.

“You have business people selling cigarettes from the US, no tax is paid on them. Yet these same business people are the first to claim and pronounce their patriotism. When you have alcohol selling in your food and beverage, whether it be hotel or store, and you know the person you buying it from can’t give you a GCT (General Consumption Tax) receipt because they’re importing it illegally, you ask yourself, how come?”

The customs boss said these were the same people who chastise Government for not paying the nation’s teachers and police officers enough. “They have to start to conform to the rules, whether big or small. It cannot be that a person sits there and assists in the undermining of the revenue base for their own selfish good, and then they want us to laud them and be thankful they’re here.”