The Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Friday filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) smuggling cases against one of the big-time rice traders in the country for illegal importation of rice amounting to almost P2 billion.
Four separate complaints were filed by the BOC against the president of Starcraft International Trading (Starcraft), Jeffrey Daradal, its board directors Eugene Pioquinto, Aveleo Godoy, Anna Orqueta, Brendel Daradal and Jessie Bantula, and company representative Hanlie Solema.
The BOC also charged 12 customs brokers of the company.
In a news conference, BOC Commissioner John Sevilla said the Starcraft officials and customs brokers were charged with violations of Section 3601 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines and Section 29 of Presidential Decree 4.
The cases against the respondents stemmed from illegal rice importation from Vietnam, Thailand, China and Singapore in 2013.
A total of 45,000 metric tons of rice amounting to P1.8 billion were smuggled by Starcraft through the Ports of Manila, Cebu and Davao, even without the necessary import permit from the National Food Authority.
PNA