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Customs' Revenue Recovery Project Reaps Rewards

Contact: John Emmanuel

Thursday, January 24, 2002 - The Enforcement Division of the Customs and Excise Department is reporting tremendous success in the work of its Revenue Recovery Project. Head of the Enforcement Division and Deputy Comptroller Terrance Leonard says to date millions of dollars have been recovered that would have been lost through commercial fraud.

“We have been able to curtail, to a large extent, the number of incidents of commercial fraud with regard to under invoicing and the like,” said Leonard. The senior Customs and Excise official attributes the success to a number of factors, primary among them is the training that has been received by officers together with a renewed commitment on their part to be more vigilant in the field.

Technology, he says, has helped. “With the use of technology and our strategic partners globally we have been able to ensure that we can investigate properly, incidents whereby persons are declaring falsely to customs, which is an infraction against the Customs Act.” Leonard notes that efforts have been heightened to stamp out that illegal practice all together.

Meantime, significant strides continue to be made in the area of drug interdiction. In that regard St. Lucia was recently honoured for being among leading enforcement departments in the region, in the fight against the illegal drugs trade.

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