Customs courier system riddled with deficiencies, audit finds
An audit of the Customs Department’s Partial Payment Programme and Courier Clearance Operations has found that those initiatives require significant reforms for it to become a value-added service to the government.
The government’s Internal Audit Department had examined Customs’ operations back in 2019 and 2020.
Among some of the main findings was an inadequate system of internal controls of Custom’s operations related to courier clearance procedures.
The audit found the entire process did not have adequate resources to effectively execute the clearance and monitoring function.
It said this was particularly evident at Custom’s Beef Island station where the bulk of courier imports are processed.
The Customs Automated Processing System (CAPS) was largely blamed for the inadequate monitoring of courier accounts.
Revenue generation capacity hampered
The government’s internal auditor, Dorea Corea shared her findings when she gave evidence during a hearing of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) recently.
Corea said the overarching effect of the CAPS deficiency is that it was very difficult to understand exactly what importers may owe. She said it was also hard to understand whether there are revenue losses to government as a result of this.
This was said to be a significant problem for Customs as a revenue-generating agency. This is largely because Customs was left in a position where it could not accurately assess how much revenue was owed and, further, how much revenue needs to be written off or what was actually lost.
The auditors surmised that CAPS was simply not being used in the way it was intended to ensure revenue maximisation.
Ultimately, a determination was made by the auditors that while Customs can’t abandon CAPS, it needs to, in effect, start all over again with how it uses the system.
System void of guidelines
According to the audit, the current process is void of clearly established guidelines for both Customs officers and courier operators.
The audit accused HM Customs of having allowed courier operators to dictate the manner in which its processes are carried out, allowing them to become “de facto Customs officers servicing their business interests”.
Among the audit’s conclusions was that, based on the significant number of issues highlighted, there are other areas of the department that must be evaluated on an ongoing basis.
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and W**e Sm**h needs to find himself another job. Incompetency killed the BVI
And also stop spending so much time gossiping about other people business, get a life and watch the ineffecient way he has run Customs all these years.
They are ripping off the tax payers.
The rot continues inside these courier companies themselves. Parcels arrive at the customer with a figure to pay written on the side of the parcel in marker pen. There is no official paperwork , there is no calculation as to how the figure was arrived at. The sums demanded are way above what they should be according to customs tariffs. Protest and they will refuse to give you the parcel , which could be urgent medical or parts, they don’t care , all they want is the rip off. This must be in conjunction with customs officers. I suspect the couriers and the customs share out the extra that parcel recipients are made to pay. And for sure the senior ranks of customs let this happen , know all about it and are probably sharing the loot.
Not entirely correct. Fedex and DHL will reassess their duty charges within one day, when the correct tariff is referenced. They also get most stuff down from the airport and cleared the same day, which is excellent. Compare this with Antigua or St Lucia when you can wait a week after your “overnight express” parcel has arrived before you get a chance even to dispute the charges, and many of those officers are wearing a lot of gold, and driving big cars. I think BVI Customs are doing a good job.
We all know what happens thank you.
High time we abolished Customs and became a duty-free port. It’s a parasitic system.
The government erroneously believes that the BVI needs to cast its lot with the cruise ship market, so if we have to suffer that environmental and economic mistake, let’s capitalise on it and work it.
have a flat tax on everything instead of FAULTY SYSTEM
I don’t know any other country where the head of customs could preside over such repeated scams, lack of contraband discovery and corruption and survive in his post.
It is about time that theAuditors beat the head of customs at his Game. Game Over bbig man.
Time is up
he a Smit
State of the BVI: 99% of all government offices failed their audit exams. Customs has been one of the worst departments thus far. According to the auditor, Customs was “hard to understand whether there are revenue losses to the government.” Tolans, basically, what that mean, no one knows how much money was coming in and if money was coming in where the money was going. For those of you who earned $7.00 an hour, think about that. For those of you who have a child in that high school, think about that. For those of you who drive daily to work but drive in deep potholes, think about that. This COI has to do with this kind of corruption. Some people have gotten away with this corruption for so long that it is now seen as a normal practice.
I WAS JUST WONDERING MYSELF ( THESE SMITHS SEEMS TO BE IN EVERYTHING LATELY ) LOOKS LIKE THE THE SMITHS SHIP’S SINKING ● / THANKS FOR KEEPING US INFORMED OF WHAT IS GOING ON HERE / THE OTHER NEWS SITE IS ONLY INTERESTED IN WHATS GOING ON IN THE RSCIST UK WHICH THEY JUST DISCOVERED ALL NOF VA SUDDEN
what an sn**e
It is like this for a reason
Figure it out
Precisely. We all know…..