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THE
Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) is preparing
administrative and civil charges against more than 100
Customs officials and personnel allegedly involved in
smuggling activities, the PASG’s head, Undersecretary
Antonio Villar Jr., said on Sunday.
Villar
told Palace reporters in a news briefing that the PASG
is building up the cases, which are expected to be filed
in the coming days.
“We’re
building airtight cases so that they will hold up in
court. These will be administrative and criminal
cases....Maybe give us a few days more. We are
validating everything, collating our documents,” Villar
said.
Besides
car smuggling, the PASG is also “concentrating” on oil
smuggling, or selling outside the free-port zones of oil
meant for use only in the zones, he said.
Those
who may be charged include examiners, appraisers,
collectors and Customs employees, and maybe even those
who have signed documents involving the goods in
question.
Asked
whether the PASG plans to file charges against 100
Customs officials and personnel, Villar said, “More than
that.”
Villar
alleged that there is obviously some connivance between
the smugglers and some Customs people, as some vehicles
have reportedly been known to leave some ports without
proper documentation.
“Of
course there is [connivance]. How can these cars leave
[the port] without documentation, gate pass?” he said.
Villar
said the PASG has an order of battle naming more than 25
“major players” in smuggling.
On the
oil smuggling, meanwhile, Edmundo Arugay of the PASG
Legal Division said that PASG is awaiting the results of
the joint audit of the BOC and the Subic Bay
Metropolitan Authority, as well as the liquidation
report of Tri-Solid Movers Services Inc. so that it
could compare the two documents and verify allegations
that Tri-Solid is liable to pay for unliquidated oil.
Arugay
said Tri-Solid has already paid P20 million to the BOC,
to be followed by P80 million, to show its “sincerity”
to pay whatever balance it owes the government, if the
investigation warrants it.
He added
that PASG is also “building up a case” against Oilink
Terminal following reports that it has 12 shipments of
undeclared oil, and PTT, based in Clark Free Port.
In July,
the BOC padlocked Oilink’s storage tank in Mariveles,
Bataan for a P353-million tax deficiency.
On
seized luxury cars, Villar said those that remain in
warehouses awaiting court resolution may be auctioned
off, depending on the President’s decision.
He said
any auction would be done transparently and would be
undertaken to ensure that smugglers or their “dummies”
do not participate in it.
Villar
said he used to receive appeals from some people in
behalf of importers with seized goods, whom he always
referred to the President because he knew they would not
dare call her.
But of
late he said that he has not received such calls, which
he believed could be proof that they have “had their
fill” and would now just help the Chief Executive in her
last three years in office.
Last
week, the BOC destroyed P30 million worth of seized
vehicles in Subic Free Port to send a “clear signal”
that the government will not tolerate smuggling
activities.
The
President said in a statement on Saturday that the
destruction of the vehicles will not undermine
government cases against the smugglers and that “their
prosecution will be pursued in earnest.”
She said
that by destroying the vehicles, smugglers would be
denied the chance to redeem the latter through “paid
proxies.”
“Not
only will they be barred from future auctions; they will
be put behind bars,” Mrs. Arroyo said. |
