Customs files P4.1-B technical smuggling case against Jetti Petroleum

The Bureau of Customs (BoC) filed on Thursday a P4.1-billion technical smuggling case against Jetti Petroleum Inc., bringing the number of oil players involved in alleged oil smuggling to six in 15 months. Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez said the BoC’s Run-After-The-Smugglers (RATS) team found documentary evidence that Jetti Petroleum had used several schemes of deception to deprive government of much-needed revenues. Charged before the Department of Justice for various fraudulent practices were Jetti Petroleum president Joselito Tibayan Magalona, and brokers Darwin Suico and Dario Amolata, as well as several customs employees who participated in the illegal release of Jetti Petroleum’s various importations of diesel and unleaded fuels between June 2010 and June this year with a combined dutiable value of P4.1 billion. Alvarez also ordered the BoC’s Post Entry Audit Group (PEAG) to check all previous importations of Jetti to determine if the same modus operandi was used by the company in the past. Earlier, the BoC had in the last 15 months filed smuggling cases against Pilipinas Shell, Phoenix Petroleum, Cross Country, Oil Link and Filpride. Jetti is a 100 percent Filipino-owned company engaged in the importation, blending, distribution and retailing of petroleum products. It has become a major oil industry player in Mindanao with a network of stations built in the cities of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, and Butuan, as well as other key areas in Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte and Zamboanga del Zur. ‘Anomalous’ entries, unpaid duties The RATS team uncovered records showing that imported fuels unloaded at the Sub-Port of Mindanao International Terminal in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental were broken into 49 importation entries, of which 45 were found anomalous by the anti-smuggling team. They also found some P1.1 billion worth of imported petroleum products Jetti brought in between Sept. 28, 2010 and May 16, 2011 had cleared customs despite the covering import entries having been filed beyond the required 30-day period from the date of discharge. Existing regulations require that shipments involving 15 import entries should have been deemed abandoned in favor of the government. The RATS team also found 30 import entry declarations covering some P2.9 billion in petroleum products had cleared customs despite the failure of Jetti to submit the required Load Port Survey (LPS) and/or Discharge Port Survey (DPS). Existing regulations require these shipments to be considered “high risk" and should have remained in customs custody until “accomplishment and submission of the DPS." Finally, Jetti was found to have not paid some P11.8 million in duties and taxes for its various importations, having paid only P896.4 million when it should have remitted P908.2 million to Customs. According to Customs Deputy Commissioner Gregorio Chavez, Jetti’s circumvention of customs rules and regulations spurred the BoC to sue for the collection of P4.1 billion which “represents the total value of the fraudulent shipments." Alvarez said it was clear that Jetti could not have succeeded in pulling off this caper without the connivance and indispensable cooperation of corrupt Customs officials and employees. — MRT/VS, GMA News