Corruption in Fiji's

customs department

By Bernadettte Hussain

Early last year, a senior cus toms official

in Fiji’s

x' Customs Department claimed that corruption and bribery were rife and were the cause of a multi-million-dollar loss in govern ment revenue. These allegations perhaps caused more impact because the officer admitted to taking the bribe in December 1996. He alleged he was offered SFSOOO (SUS34BO) bribe by a businessman in return for not pursing a case of evasion of duty.

He said this was normal practice in the department where majority of officers were on low salaries. Officers were earning between SFSOOO and SFBOOO (SUS34BO and $1185575) per year.

The officer claimed that there were more cases of evasion than those with cor rect paper work; in most cases of evasion of duty, businessmen offered cash to “kill” the issue and bribery was most common and most cases were not highlighted because the department itself decided on what action to take.

The officer’s allegations saw an inquiry into the department and the committee dis covered that not only was there truth in the allegations and there were a lot of other problems as well and concerns were raised over the accountability of the department.

A police investigation into the depart ment showed that many senior and junior civil servants abused office. Police Commissioner Isikia Savua also confirmed at the time that containers of goods had been smuggled out of the Suva Wharf through the use of forged documents.

He said that investigations showed a high level of abuse of office, bribery and corruption and there was no doubt that con tainers filled with valuable items were taken out after cheating the proper system.

In August last year, the inquiry team made its report official and rumours and allegations were confirmed.

The report revealed that corruption was

rife at all levels of the department and there were recommenda tions of a major over haul with early retire ment of senior staff who were found to be ineffective.

However, the report said that not all customs officers were corrupt. It said cor ruption varied from collusion with traders and the acceptance of money to carry out illegal acts or not to carry out their duties in a proper manner. This included cases where officers demanded money from pas sengers for lunch or yaqona (kava).

While the committee actively sought and obtained information on corruption, the majority of the submissions tended to concentrate on poor management practices, outdated procedures, the inability of senior management to recognise the changes required and their inability to consider industry needs in regards to facilitation.

The report said that senior management had lost the respect of those they were sup posed to lead and morale of junior officers was low while members of the public had a poor opinion of the department as a whole.

But the report also said that not all the problems at customs arose from the actions of the department. It said police were not familiar with commercial documentation and had their own set of priorities.

It recommended that these matters should normally be addressed by experi enced well trained customs investigation officers. The report said that matters of dis cipline were being dealt with by the depart ment but they had not necessarily been dealt with in a consistent manner.

“Cultural ties and lack of managerial experience by some of the officers have led to a lack of action,” it said.

The report said that a major concern over the last five years had been the sys tematic fraud attempts by importers of used cars. It said misdescription, under valua

tion, split consignment, surplus and unen

tered goods in full container loads and cars dissembled to take on the appearance of parts, had all been used at some time to evade the payment of duty.

The report said in cases where Customs had held inquiries the investigation officers received anonymous threats against them and their families. They were abused and one officer had been assaulted. It said that since the rate of import duty on new and

used cars were high compared to those on parts. “This encouraged some traders to attempt to evade payment of the appropri ate duty.” The huge fiscal advantage that can be obtained has led and will continue to lead to associated crimes of bribery of officers and abuse of powers,” it said.

The report added that government would agree to the loss of large amounts of revenue received from duty on imported vehicles. In 1996,' Fiji’s Public Service Commission (PSC) ordered an investiga tion into an alleged abuse of office by a high-ranking customs officer. The investi gation followed a complaint by the Fiji Public Service Association (FPSA).

The official allegedly helped some sec ond-hand car dealers and failed to lay charged against an airline executive who imported pornographic tapes into Fiji. The executive was caught with the pornograph ic tapes by customs officers at the Nadi International Airport.

The Customs Department is not the only government department where there are allegations of corruption. The Prisons Department is also included.

A letter dated April 4, 1997 and signed simply “Prison Intelligence Unit” was sent to Fiji’s permanent secretary for home affairs, Apisolome Tudreu.

The letter made serious allegations against the department and stopped short at naming names. It claimed that bribery was rife, there was a lack of discipline among prison officers and prisoners moved freely around the security bay with not control over their movements to the visiting area.

Apart from laxity in supervision of pris oners, the letter claimed that a prisoner who presented a superintendent with a Tabua (whale’s tooth - highly valued in the indigenous Fijian culture) and a bundle of fish, was soon after released on extra mural duties.

The superintendent was also accused of nepotism, which the letter said was a major problem in the department. The letter claimed that relatives of the superintendent were considered for promotions over deserving officers. There were also allega tions of the superintendent being bribed with cartons of beer to help in promotions.

Efforts are being made to curb these problems as soon as possible and as the public demands accountability, the pres sure is on all these departments to make sure that they provide this and at the same time cleanup the mess. ■