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More than imported 30 antiques over 100 years old disguised as tables and chairs. Photo: L.T

Declaring tables and chairs but importing antiques

At the end of 2022, through area control work, the online duty unit of the General Department of Customs and the Saigon Port Zone 4 Customs Branch detected a shipment imported from France with suspicious signs, so they put under special monitoring and supervision. This shipment was opened by BMMN Co., Ltd. (HCMC) in the name of the import customs declaration. After the goods arrive at the port for more than 90 days, the company opened a customs declaration to carry out customs clearance procedures.

As declared by the company, the imported shipment is wooden tables and chairs, 100% new, imported from France. Due to suspicious signs, Saigon Port Zone 4 Customs Branch conducted a physical inspection. As a result, the Customs agency found that all the goods contained in the container were not tables and chairs as declared, but were decorative items including ceramics, wooden furniture with hundreds of items of all kinds, including: pedestal, trunks, statue...

In particular, through detailed observation and inspection of goods, the Customs suspected that many decorative items were antiques. To clarify this suspicion, Saigon Port Zone 4 Customs Branch invited a cultural agency to assess of the above goods. The appraisal results showed that, out of 163 items, 34 were antiques over 100 years old, dating from the 18th to the 20th century. According to the conclusions of the appraisal experts, these antiques are originated from China, Japan and Vietnam.

In addition to the antiques, the remaining goods, including Buddha statues, trunks, etc., were determined by authorities to be made from Group 1 rosewood, on the List of goods banned from import as specified in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Proposing to file a criminal case

The Customs coordinates with the Cultural agency to assess the shipment. Photo: L.T

According to the Saigon Port Zone 4 Customs Branch, after the container containing antiques and prohibited goods imported from France to Vietnam by BMMN Co., Ltd. was detained by the Customs agency, the company owner proactively cooperated with Customs to carry out inspection and settlement.

Working with the Customs, the director of this company said that BMMN Co., Ltd. is not the owner of this shipment. This shipment was made by another person who asked BMMN Co., Ltd. to open the customs declaration to carry out import procedures. The company’s representative also said that due to the delay in payment by the goods owner, the above imported shipment took more than three months to arrive at the port, so BMMN Co., Ltd. opened a customs declaration to carry out import procedures.

According to the reporter's research, BMMN Co., Ltd. was newly licensed for establishment in 2022. The above violating shipment is the first shipment imported by this company to Vietnam.

Regarding the infringing goods, after receiving the inspection results, to have a basis for handling the case, the Saigon Port Zone 4 Customs Branch invited experts to determine the value of the shipment. The assessment council determined the value to be over VND5 billion.

From the evidence and violation content mentioned above, the Saigon Port Zone 4 Customs Branch determined that the case had signs of a crime, so the Customs Branch sent a written proposal to the People's Procuracy to handle the above violation in the direction of prosecuting a criminal case. After receiving approval from the People's Procuracy to prosecute the criminal case, the Saigon Port Zone 4 Customs Branch transferred the file to the Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency for investigation.