This Government is Moving to Clear Its Customs Agency of Corruption

Minister of Finance Audley Shaw says they’ve been several breaches in the Jamaica Customs Agency.

Jamaica’s Minister of Finance, Audley Shaw, has warned that the Government is leaving no stone unturned in its effort to weed out corruption within the Jamaica Customs Agency.

He pointed to a number of breaches within the JCA, including goods at the transhipment point — meant for overseas destinations — remaining here in Jamaica, and the importation of illicit cigarettes, alcohol and pharmaceuticals.

“Let me make it absolutely and abundantly clear that in moving from direct to indirect taxation, we are going to create more equity. More individuals will be contributing to the tax system and if we cut out the corruption of imports we can lower our taxes as well; more compliance and everybody will have a more ordered civilized and decent society. That is the mission of this administration,” he said.

“A lot of you have had a good run bringing in illegal goods into the country — some of which are dangerous to our health. A lot of people in a lot of places – and they know when they hear my voice on television or radio, they know who they are…You’ve had a good run, but we are going to leave no stone unturned to clean up the system, create better equity for all Jamaicans and at the end of the day have a cleaner quality of life with better economic growth,” Shaw added.

Shaw, who was speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce of Jamaica (Amcham) President’s Breakfast on data and document security on Thursday, noted that corruption is becoming a nationwide crisis.

In a panel discussion involving members of the banking, entertainment, pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries, the group highlighted that fraudulent paperwork has not only cost local companies millions in technologies to mitigate the activities, but has also led to the Sagicor Group closing one of its critical illness plans in light of fraudulent insurance claims.

Globally, fraud currently accounts for US$400 billion. But by 2020, that number is expected to reach US$1 trillion. One solution discussed among the members is the implementation of hologram images on official documents and the public education of these images.

“We are doing our best to control this situation because the corruption is moving somewhere from endemic to epidemic. We can’t sweep it under the carpet and as the minister I’m not going to tolerate it, and we are going to find a way to solve it,” Shaw told members of the audience. (Jamaica Observer)