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Billions lost in Customs amnesty
By Chandani Kirinde
Big racketeers who indulged in large-scale illegal imports are among those who will get a full amnesty while the Customs Department and state coffers will lose billions of rupees in revenue in terms of a new Inland Revenue (Special Provisions) Act passed in parliament recently.

Some leading private companies and their influential directors will be among those getting a total write-off and avoiding possible jail sentences, if convicted, from this Customs amnesty, an official said. Among the offences committed by them are illegal importation, non-payment of duty and violation of BOI conditions by the local sale of duty-free goods without payment of duty.

In the Customs Marine Division alone, the amount to be written off is Rs. 9,000 million. Following are some of the offenders, against whom cases have already been filed in courts for customs violations and the case value respectively. Ceylon Grain Elevators (Rs. 1,200 milion), Mans Lanka (Pvt) Ltd (Rs. 786 million), Stassen Exports (2.8 million), Boskalis International (Rs.141 million), and the NDB Bank (Rs. 44.3 million). However there are hundreds of other cases which are being inquired into.

The number of cases that will benefit from the amnesty is being studied by a special unit set for this purpose. Defending the move, Deputy Finance Minister Bandula Gunawardena said the aim of the amnesty was to give a chance to a large number of tax defaulters, both in Sri Lanka and abroad, to clear their liabilities and become legitimate taxpayers.

"Some smugglers and crooks may also use this amnesty to come clean but if we don't take this move, it will be ordinary people who will be paying for them through indirect taxes," the minister claimed.

He warned that this first Customs amnesty would also be the last and the authorities would take tough action against defaulters after the June 30 deadline.
Opposition parliamentarians have charged that Customs amnesty was mainly intended to write off fines that should have been paid by friends of government politicians.

JVP parliamentarian Sunil Handunetti said several pending court cases relating to tax evasion would be withdrawn and millions in public funds would be written off in favour of big racketeers.

The Bill provides for any person making a declaration to enjoy full immunity from liability to pay tax, duty levy, penalty, fine or forfeiture administered by the Departments of Inland Revenue, Customs, Excise, Exchange Control and Department of Import and Export Control up to March 31,2002. The declarations could be made to the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue before June 30.

The Bill also grants immunity from further investigation or prosecution and any action taken already will be withdrawn for any period up to March 2002. The Bill assures absolute secrecy with regard to the declarants.

Minister Gunawardena said there had been many tax amnesties granted by various governments in the past since 1964 and the last one in 2002 was the most successful with 590 declarations being made by June last year.

However, the JVP parliamentarian said that this was the first time that an amnesty had been granted for Customs defaults. The Bill was passed in Parliament with a majority of 48 votes. Ninety-seven voted in favour and 49 against.

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