Shortcomings in handling smuggled crime

Smuggled electronic products seized by the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department (on October 19,2015) Photo: Thu Hoa

The number of prosecuted smuggling cases is still low

At the symposium “The real situation and solutions to improve the effectiveness of the prevention and settlement of smuggling offenses in Ho Chi Minh City” held recently joining by the State management authorities including: Customs, the Police, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy presented many measures to strengthen the prosecution and handling of smuggling crime. According to the assessment of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy, the smuggling offenses in Ho Chi Minh City has increased with sophisticated methods and linked by a chain of domestic and international smugglers to carry out criminal activities. According to the analysis by the representative of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy, it prosecuted only 50% of violation cases, due to the tricks of the perpetrators are very sophisticated so the investigation and identification to prosecute and judge is still limited and difficult. Besides, the people who do the specialized works are not qualified for the assessment and collection of the initial information for prosecution.

Currently, in 4 cases of ivory smuggling, Customs prosecuted 2 cases and transferred to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy for investigation as per regulations. For the cases which have signs of violation, the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department will discuss with the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy to assess the evidence and exchange closely in handling the cases and prosecute closely.

At the conference, the representatives of the competent authorities also said that the smuggling cases which are prosecuted are still less than the actual seizure. Mr.Cao Xuan Loi, the Deputy Heads of the Investment Police Department, the Ho Chi Minh City Police said that all the smuggling cases, illegal transportation of goods or sale the smuggled goods which have the criminal signs but the prosecutions are still low cause difficulty for handling. The smuggling crime also brings about many other offences, such as: production of fake goods, tax evasion, etc. Recently, the Ho Chi Minh City Police has prosecuted many criminal cases which manufacture food supplements, though investigating the cases show that the raw materials which are used for manufacturing the fake supplement foods are imported illegally. The competent authorities also detected more than 200 fake dossiers for importing goods.

Mr.Loi gave the evidence, in 2016 the Ho Chi Minh City Police detected 342 smuggling cases with 355 perpetrators, up 154 cases and 151 perpetrators compared to the same period in 2015.

In which, the Police prosecuted 8 cases and 7 accused, the remaining cases which are only handled for administrative violation. The resources of smuggling information are mainly provided by the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department with 41 messages, an increase of 22 cases compared to the same period in 2015. In which, 1 case was prosecuted and 35 cases are being investigated.

Mr. Duong Ngoc Hai, the Prosecutor of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy said there are 2 types of commodities which exist on the market: illegally imported goods and the smuggled goods. The task of the competent authorities is detection and prevention of smuggled goods and protection of the domestic manufacture and prevention of State budget losses.

The information on anti smuggling of the Customs and Market Management Authority is still less, about from 30 to 40 messages per year and the number of the cases which are prosecuted still low. The Police receives over 10,000 messages, and prosecutes thousands of cases. The competent authority has detected many cases of huge smuggled ivory and rhinoceros horn, etc but they have not yet treated the perpetrators of the smuggling in the large scale. This is a worrying sign.

There are still many shortcomings

According to the analysis of the delegates, there are still many shortcomings in the prosecution and investigation for the smuggling crime. In the last time, perpetrators took advantage of the legal personality of the reputation enterprises to declare the Customs procedures has occurred, so when the goods are classified into the Green Channel to avoid physical inspection which aims to implement acts of commercial fraud and smuggling.

Currently, there are new methods for transited goods, the perpetrators did not re-export and they transported the goods to the warehouses in localities and cut the bolt of the container to steal the goods and then they close the bolt to re-export the empty containers across the border. Mr. Cao Xuan Loi wondered that is it easy in registering the electronic signature or not? Because there are many cases which use a bogus legal personality to register the electronic signature. Hence, there are many smuggling cases which are prosecuted but the competent authorities cannot find the perpetrators, so the cases are postponed. Besides, the perpetrators used the bogus legal personality to declare Customs procedures, the declarants are the employees of Customs agents, so the investigation and identification are very difficult.

At the Conference, the representatives of the competent authorities also discussed the shortcomings in handling smuggling offences such as: The legal documents are still insufficient and clear and difficult to apply which leads to te different assessments by the competent authorities.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy, smuggling crimes are very diversify and relate to many sectors and areas which are adjusted by many documents and provisions of the Law. However, there are many legal regulations mostly in the field of import and export which are not regulated in a unified way and overload and difficult to apply, not consistent and clear in the identification of offence. Besides, there are some of the cases can not be handled due to they cannot define the assets value because the objects of the cases which are banned goods and the wild animals with high profit. Many huge smuggling cases have been conducted delicately in the smuggling rings which are formed by chains of domestic and international smugglers. It takes a long time to detect but the competent authorities only treat the domestic perpetrators and cannot handle the international ringleaders.

Currently, there are many competent authorities which manage and license import and export activities. However, the management of the authorities have shortcomings and loopholes that lead to the perpetrators taking advantage to smuggle.

Contributing to the measures of handling the smuggling offence, Mr. Ho Quy Hoang, the Deputy Prosecutor of the Institute No.1, the Criminal Institute said that, the shortcomings of the verification for banned goods are difficulty and cannot be easily handled, therefore there must be a specific proposal to the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam to resolve.

Government targets smuggled and counterfeit goods The Market Surveillance Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade will step up supervision on smuggled ...

According to the analysis of the Prosecutor of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy, Mr.Duong Ngoc Hai, in recent time, the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department implemented classification of the declaration and physical inspection of only 5% of goods. That is the general trend with Vietnam joint integration. However, Customs needs to collaborate to detect and prevent in a timely way acts of smuggling and trade fraud. The People’s Procuracy will strengthen the settlement the accused information on smuggling offences, the criminal proceeding authorities need to further promote the prosecution, investigation, judgment and strictly handle the acts of smuggling and evasion tax.