The government of the Solomon Islands should have earned more than $10 million in export tax from the six controversial containers of beche-de-mer shipped out Tuesday this week.
But customs documents the Solomon Star obtained revealed the Government received only $546,801.90 in export duty from the total freight on board value of $4.98 million.
This was due to apparent undervaluing of the beche-de-mer products by exporters, with assistance from officials from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
A customs official spoken to said the total freight on board value of the beche-de-mers was simply unrealistic.
I urge authorities to initiate an investigation into this whole thing, the officer said.
It was all dirty and smells of corruption.
The amount of export duty collected does not reflect the true quantity and quality of the export.
The products were undervalued because fisheries officers who should be doing their work were instead helping the exporters to defraud the country, the officer said.
One local exporter spoken to say several ministers of the crown, government officials and police participated in this conspiracy to defraud the nation of much needed revenue.
Documents the Solomon Star obtained showed questionable dealings between fisheries officials and the beche-de-mer exporters.
Customs officials spoken to said the figures they were provided in the export documents raised a lot of questions as to the true value and quantity of the export.
But since they have no power to counteract what fisheries officers have provided, they could not do much.
One document obtained from the Ministry of Fisheries belonging to Rendova Trading Company raised serious questions as to why only officials have signed and not the director, on an Export Declaration Form.
Comparing this document with another fisheries fish export permit of the same company signed by the director of fisheries inshore, there were huge disparities.
The unit prices of both local and export prices per kilogram are way below true values.
And these values and quantities were reported to be similar for the rest of the exported containers.
Interestingly, the export prices per unit were in Solomon Islands dollars and not in US dollars, as it would be for any export product.
There were also questions as to why fisheries officials have given approval to export permits without questioning the licence holders why their unit prices on their export permits and Declaration Forms were very low compared to their buying price lists.
Further questions were raised as to why these six containers, as shown on their export permit records, were not filled to their maximum capacity as was required, and yet they were exported.
Local beche-de-mer export licence holder Jimmy Lusibaea has also questioned why the Asians were able to buy more bech-de-mer in so short a period of time, while others like him are yet to fill up their containers.
We all got our licence at the same time but how come they are able to export their containers so soon. This shows that they must have been buying before the lift of the ban.
Because some of us offered high buying prices but we still can’t fill our containers.
When you look at the export documents of some of these buyers, you’ll realise their buying price and export prices on their export permits were lower than our prices, Mr Lusibaea said.
He further questioned why the first grade species of beche-de-mer were never listed in their export permits.
Besides, there is very little quantity shown on their permit records.
Mr Lusibaea called on fisheries authorities to come out and explain this to the public.
He said he knew very well the dirty dealings between fisheries and other beche-de-mer exporters.
Mr Lusibaea said some of the exporters exported a 40ft container whilst the quantity shown on their permits could have fit into a 20ft container.
Customs officials spoken to say they were aware of the issue regarding the size of the containers but could do nothing because they containers were already packed and loaded ready for shipment.
We operate at the end of the line.
Any documents our fisheries officials signed and forwarded to us will be accepted and taken.
After all, they are our government officers and we trust and believe they are doing their job honesty.
We only act if a suspicious case is reported or seeking custom’s intervention, one official explained.
The export unit prices of the different beche-de-mer species were also questioned because there is no determined export value.
This means when a decision is made on a unit price, the exporter and fisheries have to decide on a unit price which is between the lowest and the highest.
Sometimes the decision is made on the average unit price, or below and above the average unit price.
Decision on unit prices/values is the sole responsibility of fisheries.
This is a serious problem that left the government and the country losing millions of dollars like what is happening now, the customs officer stressed.
The officer said they are very concerned with under-valuation, which is depriving the country much needed revenue.
He explained cases like this leads to transactions being understated to attract lower duty where an exporter will pay only less duty to Government.
2013 Solomon Star News