Tracing a female staff of customs broker for smuggling

	105 customs brokers have operation terminated
	32 customs brokers ended operation
	Revoke staff’s code of customs brokers

Infringing shipment imported via Cat Lai Port by Huynh Thi My Van. Photo: T.H

According to the file of case, in 2018, Top Star Vietnam Company address at Road 430, Van Phuc Ward, Ha Dong District, Ha Noi with its business line trading machinery, equipment, bicycles and parts, opened acustoms declaration form at the Investment/ Processing Customs Branch HCM City Customs Department to import goods.

The goods were declared as types of bicycle helmets, total weight of 2.24 tonnes, taxable value of goods VND 167 million, VAT amount. The shipment is implemented by the digital signature of customs broker code “H8293”. The shipment was classified into the Green channel (exempted from physical inspection) and conducted customs clearance the same day.

After the shipment was cleared, the Risk Management Division under the HCM City Customs Department detected suspicious signs and worked with the Investment/Processing Customs Branch to decide stop customs clearance and took the shipment through customs control and inspected the shipment.

Through inspection, the Risk Management Division and the Investment/Processing Customs Branch detected the shipment as perfume, cosmetics, clothes and bags which were inconsistent with the declaration. The total value of the goods was more than VND 1 billion, including payable import amount of nearly VND 200 million and Value Added Tax of VND 122.6 million.

The Investment/Processing Customs Branch invited a representative of the Top Star Vietnam Company to work on the shipment. Zhang Hong Lin, General Director of Top Star Vietnam Company said he did not know about the shipment and his company did not authorise any customs broker to import this shipment.

Through verification and working with Tran Quang Buu, Director of Melody Logistics Company- customs broker code "H8293 Tran Quang Buu", he said the company did not act as a customs broker for Top Star Vietnam Company.

However, Huynh Thi My Van (born in 1987, born in Dak Lak) is a staff of the Melody Logistics Company who used the company's account and digital signature to declare and transmit the data to conduct import and export procedures at the Investment/Processing Customs Branch for many enterprises, including Top Star Vietnam Company (five declaration forms). The performance of Van does not comply with the company’s regulations.

To clarify smuggling of the shipment, the branch made a report on administrative violations and coordinated with the divisions under the HCM City Customs department to expand verification and complete the file to transfer to HCM City Police for investigation.

Regarding Melody Logistics Company- a customs broker, based on initial inspections, the branch said that this broker did not comply with regulations on customs broker operation, leading to the violation of the staff. HCM City Customs Department reported to the General Department of Vietnam Customs to handle this customs broker.