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29 March 2024

Staff made Dubai Customs lose Dh19m in fees

Published
By Eman Al Baik

An Emirati employee of Dubai Customs forged cargo transfer certificates, making the department lose more than Dh19 million in matured custom fees, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

AIM, 31, Operations Officer, allegedly during the year 2008 deliberately damaged the department’s interests by allowing Intel Telecom to transfer cargo it had imported to other companies for re-export purpose, which was not the case.

According to the prosecution sheet, AIM issued 34 transfer certificates of cargo valued at Dh381,378 whose matured customs fees are up to Dh19,068,906.

He forged the 34 customs documents that state that the companies which have received the cargo have re-exported them.

AIM is also accused of using the forged documents by handing them to the PROs of these companies who in turn submitted them to Dubai Customs and collected the cargo’s insurance, five per cent of the value.
 
The six employees of the involved companies including Intel Telecom and a fugitive - identified as, MR, 26, Syrian; KB, 22, Indian; DHA, 28, Pakistani; SJM, 31, Indian; NS, 30, Indian; LMN, 32, Indian - were accused of criminal complicity for forging official documents and using them with the knowledge of being forged.

Marwan Ali, 35, Head of Investigation Section of Customs Intelligence Department at Dubai Customs, testified before the prosecution that the section’s investigation routine work proved that Intel Telecom, which is registered with the department, does not exist and the company’s relevant employee denied knowing whereabouts of the cargo.

“Checking the situation, we found that the subject cargo had been transferred to Riyadh company, which had also transferred it to other companies. All of the transfer orders, 34, valued at Dh381,378 and having matured customs fees of Dh19,068,906 were processed by AIM,” he testified.

Ahad Juma Al Jamri, 31, Emirati, Senior Operation Officer, testified that following a request from the Investigation department he found that Intel Telecom’s licence had expired and its cargo data was cleared to the favour of Gulf Ward and Deep Sea companies.

“Checking the Customs archive system, we found that AIM had amended the data by making the cargo as if imported by Riyad company instead of Intel Telecom. When confronted with the evidence he admitted amending the information following a request he received from Intel Telecom and that he did that just to help,” Al Jamri testified.

Saeed Ahmad Al Tayer, 34, Emirati, Director of Jebel Ali Customs, repeated the same testimony.

Tareq Ateeq, 30, Customs Inspector, said that according to the rules at Rashid Port, Dubai Customs confiscates the five per cent insurance value should six months lapse from the date of payment. Should the trader re-export the cargo, the five per cent insurance is refunded and should the cargo enter the country, the insurance is considered part of the customs fees but this should be only within six months.

Checking a list of 272 companies it was found that they had collected the insurance amounts based on documents that prove that the cargo of these companies had been transferred to Jebel Ali Free Zone whereas the free zone’s documents proved that the cargoes had not been transferred.

AIM was the one who made the transfer documents of the 272 companies, most of which were not aware of the cargo transfers.

All of the seven accused have confessed to the accusation. The court adjourned the case until next month.