Namibia used in smuggling scam
A Namibian company was used as a front for a tax-evasion scam involving more than N$1.5 million in Zambia over a two-year period.
The company Daily Meat Products Limited, based in Lusaka, smuggled goods worth over N$1.5 million in unpaid duty and taxes.
The company was used as a front to smuggle chicken into the country under value to avoid higher taxes.
The products that were actually imported from the Netherlands were changed and documents forged to make it look like it came from Namibia to avoid paying higher import duties.
In a statement, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) said it has been engaged in an ongoing investigation involving a local customs clearing company in Walvis Bay and a business entity in Zambia called Daily Meat Products Limited.
According to the ACC, Daily Meat Products imported containers of frozen chicken that had been mechanically deboned from the Netherlands with legitimate and authentic documentation.
It included invoices stating the actual value at which the product was purchased in the Netherlands.
The local clearing company at the coast handled the import and the goods were supposed to be in transit on a third-party bond with a final destination at Daily Meat Products in Zambia.
In order not to compromise the bond the consignments were received in Walvis Bay and cleared by the clearing agency and transported to the Wenela Border Post in the Zambezi Region.
According to the ACC, the original documentation and authentic invoices were posted to the Asycuda Customs system to ensure that the chicken products were indeed transferred and removed in bond from Namibia and due for import into Zambia.
Asycuda Customs System is a computerised customs management system which covers most foreign trade procedures.
“The documentation was in order and authentic up to that stage and the bond was not compromised and the goods left Namibia with the correct documentation,” said the ACC. A clearing agent on the Zambian side would then facilitate the import into Zambia.
He would allegedly create a new Customs Declaration Form complete with fictitious set of invoices and undervalue the consignment stating that the chicken products originated from Namibia.
The agent would also utilise a local Namibian company, that was unaware of these transactions, its name and details on the invoices and forge SADC certificates as if the products originated from this company in Namibia.
Due to certain SADC agreements there are some benefits to importers within the region, said the ACC. The clearing agent in Zambia would then allegedly present this forged documents with considerable lowered values.
Also included would be a Customer Road Freight Manifest that indicates that the product originated from Namibia and misrepresent it as an import from a local company in Namibia to the Zambia Revenue Authority.
This is in order to evade paying the due and much higher import duties that would have been payable if the goods were in fact imported with the original documentation from the Netherlands.
According to the ACC, the matter was exposed after the Namibian company became aware of transactions through a subsidiary and started investigating as Daily Meat Products was unknown to them.
Only after receiving the documentation presented in Zambia did the company realise that these documents are forgeries and alerted the ACC.
The ACC with the assistance of the finance ministry and Customs of Excise then started to launch an investigation that is still ongoing. Searches were performed at the clearing agent in Namibia and various documents, computers and cellphones were confiscated.
The ACC immediately alerted the Zambian Revenue Authority who started their own probe in Zambia covering the period from January 2015 to November this year.
ELLANIE SMIT
The company Daily Meat Products Limited, based in Lusaka, smuggled goods worth over N$1.5 million in unpaid duty and taxes.
The company was used as a front to smuggle chicken into the country under value to avoid higher taxes.
The products that were actually imported from the Netherlands were changed and documents forged to make it look like it came from Namibia to avoid paying higher import duties.
In a statement, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) said it has been engaged in an ongoing investigation involving a local customs clearing company in Walvis Bay and a business entity in Zambia called Daily Meat Products Limited.
According to the ACC, Daily Meat Products imported containers of frozen chicken that had been mechanically deboned from the Netherlands with legitimate and authentic documentation.
It included invoices stating the actual value at which the product was purchased in the Netherlands.
The local clearing company at the coast handled the import and the goods were supposed to be in transit on a third-party bond with a final destination at Daily Meat Products in Zambia.
In order not to compromise the bond the consignments were received in Walvis Bay and cleared by the clearing agency and transported to the Wenela Border Post in the Zambezi Region.
According to the ACC, the original documentation and authentic invoices were posted to the Asycuda Customs system to ensure that the chicken products were indeed transferred and removed in bond from Namibia and due for import into Zambia.
Asycuda Customs System is a computerised customs management system which covers most foreign trade procedures.
“The documentation was in order and authentic up to that stage and the bond was not compromised and the goods left Namibia with the correct documentation,” said the ACC. A clearing agent on the Zambian side would then facilitate the import into Zambia.
He would allegedly create a new Customs Declaration Form complete with fictitious set of invoices and undervalue the consignment stating that the chicken products originated from Namibia.
The agent would also utilise a local Namibian company, that was unaware of these transactions, its name and details on the invoices and forge SADC certificates as if the products originated from this company in Namibia.
Due to certain SADC agreements there are some benefits to importers within the region, said the ACC. The clearing agent in Zambia would then allegedly present this forged documents with considerable lowered values.
Also included would be a Customer Road Freight Manifest that indicates that the product originated from Namibia and misrepresent it as an import from a local company in Namibia to the Zambia Revenue Authority.
This is in order to evade paying the due and much higher import duties that would have been payable if the goods were in fact imported with the original documentation from the Netherlands.
According to the ACC, the matter was exposed after the Namibian company became aware of transactions through a subsidiary and started investigating as Daily Meat Products was unknown to them.
Only after receiving the documentation presented in Zambia did the company realise that these documents are forgeries and alerted the ACC.
The ACC with the assistance of the finance ministry and Customs of Excise then started to launch an investigation that is still ongoing. Searches were performed at the clearing agent in Namibia and various documents, computers and cellphones were confiscated.
The ACC immediately alerted the Zambian Revenue Authority who started their own probe in Zambia covering the period from January 2015 to November this year.
ELLANIE SMIT
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