Report slams HM Customs for ‘environment’ of corruption
A recent review of law enforcement and criminal justice bodies in the BVI has uncovered alarming allegations of corruption within HM Customs, highlighting systemic issues that undermine governance and public trust.
The review, conducted by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, revealed severe flaws in the agency’s organisational structure, internal governance, and operational practices. According to the report, HM Customs is plagued by an “environment conducive to corruption,” largely due to inadequate oversight and a lack of transparency.
Officials said that although their role did not include investigating allegations of corruption, they found that HM Customs’ organisational structures and practices posed a high risk of corruption. “Some staff told us they wouldn’t report wrongdoing among their colleagues as this wasn’t kept confidential when they did so before. And they told us they would now ‘keep their head down’, as they were concerned for their personal safety if they were to report anything,” the review added.
Staffing issues further compound the challenges within HM Customs. The review found that many staff had yet to receive overtime payments or remuneration for temporary promotions, leading to low morale and potential vulnerabilities to corrupt practices. Additionally, the organisation suffers from severe resource constraints, with a 22 per cent reduction in the workforce due to a government-imposed recruitment freeze.
A pervasive culture of micromanagement also undermines the effectiveness of HM Customs. Staff at various ports of entry reported that they are not empowered to make decisions on customs rules breaches or issue fines without referring cases to senior leaders. This practice slows down decision-making and increases the risk of corruption by concentrating power in the hands of a few senior officials.
The review made several recommendations to address corruption and improve governance within HM Customs. These include developing clear policies and procedures, enhancing officer training, and establishing robust oversight mechanisms. The review urged the HM Customs Commissioner to implement these recommendations swiftly to restore public confidence and ensure the integrity of customs operations in the BVI.
Lawmakers blasted the review for exposing deficiencies in the territory on an international stage, particularly those related to national security issues and weaknesses they felt were already being remedied.
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Our “lawmakers” once again exhibit their deaf-dumb-blindness as everyone here and abroad understands that this is just another 3rd world country with all of what that means. There is a reason Customs isn’t involved in most of the drug busts because it is the agency with the least amount of outside oversight; in other words it was given enough rope! Time to complete the house cleaning, then turn to the next agency in need of cleaning, Ships Registry!!
That’s has been going on for years / and it’s not there alone ( those who were caught in the sting operation , is an example of * WHO IS WHO * and as the old saying goes , WHATEVER IS IN THE DARKNESS WILL BE BROUGHT TO LIGHT , SO WE ARE WAITING ON THE OTHER DISCOVERIES FROM UNDER THE RUG
I went to do an interview and is one of their corrupt officer was on the panel when I enquired about it I was told that’s the boss right hand wellsa
Where is Government Official #1? He has been awfully quiet lately!
Just look at who in charge of marine and the dogs and conduct an investigation on how much bust those two areas has gotten under their leadership. Now I hear the one for marine son is who customs using to import dogs like really lol lol
The managers are so disrespected in that department and the leader does nothing depending on who the manager is smdh. Junior staff making decisions and all in there craziness
Is anyone surprised at the findings here? I hope we taxpayers didn’t spend much on this report. Captian Obvious!
I am shocked, customs corrupt, no way, they have never ben accused of anything before this must be a mistake
Qualified persons are overlooked for positions while their unqualified people are promoted, that whole department is a complete disaster.
is the royal navy a problem? is the royal air force a problem? is buckingham palace a problem? is the uk prime minister office a problem? is the uk parliament a problem? you british virgin islanders you do not want to live in africa. africa is worst than living in the british virgin islands.
@maria louisa varlack
So are you saying that because other government agencies around the world have issues, ours should be ignored? After all, sounds just like Standard Operating Procedure?
And let’s not get into how the females are treated. Mika exposed the big belly one some time back for his behavior. Boy every time I see his Wicked oger looking MS in town, I does want to ring some hard thump in he MS. One of them woman should ring a nail file up your p££ h●le!!
Hush your duppy looking MS!!! You seem so desperate for attention…you need a man to drive you some good hard tool in your @$$ and you will keep from commenting on ever news article.
Them thief all the partial payment money build house and buy vehicle, set a thief up in that department. Then them penalizing you saying you defraud customs.
A set of them doing brokerage up in customs on government time competing against us and pushing their entries through the system while we wait days for ours
They need to check one of the senior staff in CAPS doing brokerage.
Wait the new acting boss, done messing up already, dangerous guy. He is no different to w.it’s like w never left strupes. Same trend. Corruption throughout that department. The person in charge of the marine section along with his staff are all messed up.there systematic need fixing. News Carrying and spreading of your legs is the way up to promotion, working hard is not recognized.you can take that to the bank.
That big overweight one them have in town from sea cows bay harassing people because she can’t get no money out you, when she was up port running racket on them cargo boats them was to lock her a** up from them Ms. D you I am talking about come for me
I see an officer a day cut a seal off a container one time and he was gone, tell me what inspection that is isn’t he supposed to go through the container
People in customs doing brokerage and other conflict of interest business like boat check in etc includes sc*,Je*,Ta*, Ma*, An*, Fl*,some. Working caps don’t remember their names.
Though I agree that HM Customs has its shortcomings, no place in the world is without issues. All recent drug busts involved police and fire officers with boat chases and police officer interdictions. The prosecution continues to lose cases every day, allowing criminal elements to sue the government.
This article seems like an attack on the department.Let’s expose this ponzi scheme and how it works. Officials and lawyers get kickbacks. If we want to start from the top and come down with the blame game, let’s not forget everyone knows who is who around here. Specific groups and cliques are not interviewed because they protect each other. The person in charge of the police force—where is he now? He has several houses, but who is questioning him about how he acquired such luxurious homes?The entire system is corrupt, so singling out customs is unfair when there’s clearly a broader scheme at play. If we expose all the offices involved—RVIPS, FIA, LD, HMP, BVIHSA, HR, MF, PO, F&RD, IMD, and more—the extent of the corruption will be clear. Bloggers and society, in general, contribute to this problem by accepting and engaging in shady dealings with public officers, whether it’s paying someone at labor and immigration to process documents or other forms of bribery. This occurs globally, where individuals line their pockets and provide services outside the normal process.We need to do better as a society and stomp out corruption entirely. Even the people sent in by Homeland Security are cashing in. HMP had a few imports, but nothing has changed; it’s just smoke and mirrors with the same side deals happening differently. The news should expose what’s really going on so people like Mika Barry can be held accountable.By focusing on customs alone, the article misses the broader context of corruption that permeates various departments. If we want to address corruption, we need a holistic approach that includes all involved parties.
Finally, Mr S* needs looking in to…
All the time I wondering why USA don’t team up with bvi customs for on the water drugs bust…
Now it makes sense…
And y’all celebrate when big W* got off free? Lmfao
Wild country I few up in mehson. No wonder crime rate increasing amongst the youths at the highschool.
Cause we condone wrong doing then wonder why
What about the corruption of Jaspert and mark? That is swept under the table it’s not fair and right!!!!
“Lawmakers blasted the review for exposing deficiencies in the territory”
So my lawmakers couldn’t see deficiency in them own country?!?
We the people seeing it every day.
Tourist come here frequently. You don’t think that at some point they would notice that we lacking? From them touch our poor roads something wrong
Y’all actually don’t care about the country shortcomings once y’all would fill your pockets and catch flights. Smh
Don’t act surprised now. Y’all knew all along but didn’t want nobody air out the dirty laundry
It’s alleged that a few of them is sexual involved with the Ag. C*, some of these allegations were before he became the …
The young lady on the marine unit that goes with her supervisor and everyone in customs knew from top to bottom knew about it. Her brother is known for human trafficking you really think if them out there and catch him in action they going stop him or bring him in
BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE IS CUSTOMS PIER PARK
THE AUDITOT GENEREAL NEEDS TO AUDIT THAT DEPARTMENT FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
The Deputy Governor’s Office is responsible for the Civil Service. We are being told, report after report that the Civil Service is complete s**t. But we are not told anything about the Governor or Deputy Governor’s Offie nor their involvement (or lack of) with these issues. Another hatchet job!
Nothing in the reports sounds far fetched. In truth, BVI Customs has been a morass of contempt for BVIslanders and visitors alike for years. Historically, nothing about the department has shown Customs to be team players with other government agencies, indeed, their actions have been injurious so many times in the past. They’ve always acted like power unto themselves. It’s almost like BVI Customs was set up and organised by New York mafiosi. Maybe Tony Soprano is our mysterious “Government Official #1”!
Perhaps it’s time for the BVI to become a duty-free port and abolish Customs? Our local politicians won’t touch the duty-free port idea, because Customs is their huge slush fund.
It’s a very regressive tax system that the people of the BVI do not deserve, and who knows how much money they cycle through that would be better placed in rate-payers pockets. And likewise, if we have to suffer the cruise ships, make the place attractive to them.
Customs has issues? Who knew? Lol.
Anybody notice how Immigration is another one of those independent mafia zones? Both these departments have jurisdiction over our two biggest businesses in the BVI – drugs smuggling and human trafficking.
Maybe they should be examined with very fine tooth combs from top to bottom. Wouldn’t that be the obvious thing to do to fight these two serious issues?
Two persons cam make a,difference in immigration…they are both retired now but their mere presence there can and will change things
Worst department
That lady should have been removed from the marine unit with immediate effect when she got involved with her supervisor, if you used to see the way they are boosting like the waters belong to them. Imagine you and I get charge for the same thing but I get a few thousand dollars charge while their friend walks free.
THE WAY THEY ABUSE THOSE GOVERNMNET VECHICLES DURING THEIR PERSONAL TIME, ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT, YOU ARE SEEING THEM VECHICLES IN PLACES I FEEL DEEM INAPPROCIATE, WITH THEM WOMAN, CHILD, FAMILY, FRIENDS LIKE IS TAXI SERVICE THEM RUNNING
We do what we want. Stop trying to rule us and control us. We don’t like it. We will continue to do what we want in our BVI. The Police are all Xpats. Fix them. We in Customs. We good.
Excuse me, it is not just all you who claim this BVI.
Gangsters and people who want to take us down the drain do not represent the most of us decent BVI people. Hush you greedy mumu mout.
We will never progress and move forward as we are too concerned by who writes these reports than what they actually contain. Where we should be trying to fix what is found we just come up with excuses because the so called colonizers write the report. If we could only take a step back. Read it, digest it and then ask is it factual ? If it is then it doesn’t matter who wrote the report. And just maybe these bad people from the UK actually do want what is best for us. Food for thought !
Officials said that although their role did not include investigating allegations of corruption, they found that HM Customs’ organisational structures and practices posed a high risk of corruption. “Some staff told us they wouldn’t report wrongdoing among their colleagues as this wasn’t kept confidential when they did so before. And they told us they would now ‘keep their head down’, as they were concerned for their personal safety if they were to report anything,” the review added. DAS CORRUPTION
Lawmakers blasted the review for exposing deficiencies in the territory on an international stage, particularly those related to national security issues and weaknesses they felt were already being remedied.
DAS CORRUPTION ALSO.
Rogue Officers, rein them in, they have more powers than the courts and are very disrespectful.
Higgingbottpm said that there was no corruption uncovered on Wade Smith’s watch. So where is this report coming from?
a lot of ayo ppl in the comments is clowns! ayo weird lf !