Customs administration services have launched an in-depth investigation into “deceptive import” practices used to illicitly transfer funds abroad. These operations involve small businesses manipulating invoices to justify transactions with exporters in Asia, notably China and the Philippines.
The control services of the General Customs Administration have opened an in-depth investigation into the use of “deceptive import” operations to transfer funds abroad, through small businesses. These have the function of justifying the importation of goods from Asian countries, notably China and the Philippines, and of transferring large sums to the accounts of exporters in these countries, on the basis of manipulated invoices.
According to sources from Hespressdata from the General Directorate of Taxes and the Foreign Exchange Office concerning the accounts and transactions of suspicious companies alerted the Vigilance and Risk Analysis Unit of the National Customs Brigade, which ordered customs control teams to closely examine certain import operations, most of which took place through the port of Casablanca. These operations, add the same sources, were approved by the Foreign Exchange Office and were carried out regularly on bank accounts between Morocco and Asian countries. But, one factor triggered observers’ suspicions relating to repeated importation of the same goods within a specific period of time, and dealing with the same exporter abroad.
And the sources point out that customs inspectors narrowed the scope of the investigation by relying on tax data, which revealed irregularities in the declarations of the number of transactions and profits of suspect companies. In fact, an audit of their business records revealed that they had recently entered the market and had not been active for a number of years. This makes it difficult to determine the real value of imports, which mainly concern small consumer goods.
These new investigations took place while control measures for beneficiaries of the temporary admission system were reinforced. Indeed, the General Customs Administration has intensified data exchange operations with partner services, in particular the General Directorate of Taxes and the Foreign Exchange Office, concerning a certain number of suspicious cases. After observing that importers were increasingly exploiting these incentives to make significant profits, the administration decided to act. Importers took advantage of this system to import goods, which they then resold on the domestic market without exporting them, which allowed them to achieve significant profit margins, given that customs duties were not paid. on these goods.
Furthermore, and according to the sources ofHespresscustoms control services contacted counterpart institutions in countries exporting controlled goods, as part of the collection of data on people in contact with Moroccan companies, and the identification of their links concerning the embezzlement of funds which are transferred to them as part of commercial operations, to bank accounts in other countries, easily accessible to Moroccan importers.
It should be noted that customs control services also face other challenges in processing import and export files, including the undervaluation of goods in declared invoices. They have developed methods and control mechanisms to limit the consequences of this phenomenon, which allows them to recover additional rights in the billions. Their strategy for controlling suspicious transactions consists of developing evaluation indicators in coordination with the sectors concerned, federations and professional associations, and carrying out analyzes and sectoral studies which lead to research in the field and within companies. themselves, as well as to request mutual administrative assistance, that is to say, to request information.
Related News :