PASG tags Rustan’s
Villar also vowed to go after smugglers in Subic, including a politician close to Malacañang whose family, he said, was involved in smuggling used luxury vehicles.
INVESTIGATORS are running after luxury retailer Rustan’s for technical smuggling, claiming the chain has been undervaluing its products while Customs has allowed it to pay a little over P20 million instead of hundreds of millions of pesos in taxes and penalties.
Antonio Villar Jr., head of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group, said Customs allowed the four corporations comprising the Rustan’s chain—Rustan Marketing, Rustan Commercial, Stores Specialist, and Rustan Coffee Corp.—to get “off the hook” for their “general declarations and gross undervaluation of importation.”
“The four companies do not declare their shipment specifically, enabling them to dictate what value to declare in their imports,” Villar said.
Group intelligence chief Jaih Francia said the invoices of some of Rustan’s trading firms showed these were not declaring the true value of their products.
“Take the case of Global Trading International, which is based in the United States. In the invoice you would see that for the item ladies’ skirt, it costs only $11.4 per dozen. So the declared value of one skirt would only be less than a dollar. And these are US brands such as Polo and Lacoste that Rustan’s carries,” Francia said.
Invoices obtained by the group showed that Global Trading also carries wallets priced at P58, handbags at P75, face makeup at P33, and skin-care products at P38 apiece.
Azallea International carries British-made goods, including dresses that cost P111 apiece, jackets at P124, women’s pants at P87, shirts at P69, men’s jackets at P155, men’s pants at P93, bags at P178, and skirts at P89.
Italian-made perfumes sourced by Rustan’s from Euroluxe cost only P54 for the 100 ml bottle and P27 for the 50 ml bottle. Brazilian-made loafers sourced from trading company Prosperous Wind costs only P286, and men’s shoes only P333.
“If you put the brand name in the invoice, then you would immediately see it is impossible for these products to cost this low. We do not know why the Customs examiner still allowed the use of generic items in their audit,” Francia said.
“I do not know how Rustan’s could get away with this.”
The Customs Post Entry Audit Group served Rustan’s an audit notification letter on April 17 last year covering the company’s imports from 2004 to 2007.
But on Aug. 29, Rustan’s sent a letter to Customs requesting that they avail themselves of the Voluntary Disclosure Program. The four companies under the group said the tax deficiencies came about as a result of late billing of freight and ex-factory expenses.
“After three years, Rustan’s finally decided to avail of the voluntary disclosure program under very mysterious circumstances. Freight charge, for example, is an actual charge,” Francia said.
He asked why Customs accepted the invoice bearing the generic products when it had a standing order to see to it that the brand, make and model should be reflected in the imported products.
Villar said his group would file a technical smuggling case against Rustan’s once it was finished collecting all the documents against it.
“We will also file a case against the godfather of smuggling in Customs who has allowed this to happen,” he said without elaborating.
Villar also vowed to go after smugglers in Subic, including a politician close to Malacañang whose family, he said, was involved in smuggling used luxury vehicles.
“I don’t even want to mention the name of this politician,” Villar.
“Anyway, the public is aware of their grand plan to press for the abolition of the [anti-smuggling group] in the hope of resuscitating the family’s smuggling business once I’m out of the scene.” Joyce Pangco Pañares and Roy Pelovello
INVESTIGATORS are running after luxury retailer Rustan’s for technical smuggling, claiming the chain has been undervaluing its products while Customs has allowed it to pay a little over P20 million instead of hundreds of millions of pesos in taxes and penalties.
Antonio Villar Jr., head of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group, said Customs allowed the four corporations comprising the Rustan’s chain—Rustan Marketing, Rustan Commercial, Stores Specialist, and Rustan Coffee Corp.—to get “off the hook” for their “general declarations and gross undervaluation of importation.”
“The four companies do not declare their shipment specifically, enabling them to dictate what value to declare in their imports,” Villar said.
Group intelligence chief Jaih Francia said the invoices of some of Rustan’s trading firms showed these were not declaring the true value of their products.
“Take the case of Global Trading International, which is based in the United States. In the invoice you would see that for the item ladies’ skirt, it costs only $11.4 per dozen. So the declared value of one skirt would only be less than a dollar. And these are US brands such as Polo and Lacoste that Rustan’s carries,” Francia said.
Invoices obtained by the group showed that Global Trading also carries wallets priced at P58, handbags at P75, face makeup at P33, and skin-care products at P38 apiece.
Azallea International carries British-made goods, including dresses that cost P111 apiece, jackets at P124, women’s pants at P87, shirts at P69, men’s jackets at P155, men’s pants at P93, bags at P178, and skirts at P89.
Italian-made perfumes sourced by Rustan’s from Euroluxe cost only P54 for the 100 ml bottle and P27 for the 50 ml bottle. Brazilian-made loafers sourced from trading company Prosperous Wind costs only P286, and men’s shoes only P333.
“If you put the brand name in the invoice, then you would immediately see it is impossible for these products to cost this low. We do not know why the Customs examiner still allowed the use of generic items in their audit,” Francia said.
“I do not know how Rustan’s could get away with this.”
The Customs Post Entry Audit Group served Rustan’s an audit notification letter on April 17 last year covering the company’s imports from 2004 to 2007.
But on Aug. 29, Rustan’s sent a letter to Customs requesting that they avail themselves of the Voluntary Disclosure Program. The four companies under the group said the tax deficiencies came about as a result of late billing of freight and ex-factory expenses.
“After three years, Rustan’s finally decided to avail of the voluntary disclosure program under very mysterious circumstances. Freight charge, for example, is an actual charge,” Francia said.
He asked why Customs accepted the invoice bearing the generic products when it had a standing order to see to it that the brand, make and model should be reflected in the imported products.
Villar said his group would file a technical smuggling case against Rustan’s once it was finished collecting all the documents against it.
“We will also file a case against the godfather of smuggling in Customs who has allowed this to happen,” he said without elaborating.
Villar also vowed to go after smugglers in Subic, including a politician close to Malacañang whose family, he said, was involved in smuggling used luxury vehicles.
“I don’t even want to mention the name of this politician,” Villar.
“Anyway, the public is aware of their grand plan to press for the abolition of the [anti-smuggling group] in the hope of resuscitating the family’s smuggling business once I’m out of the scene.” Joyce Pangco Pañares and Roy Pelovello
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
10:30 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home