Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the Directorate General of Customs and Excise would continue confiscating any illegally imported textile products to protect the domestic industries, so that they remain viable.
"These smuggled products would damage the domestic industries because they could be easily produced at home and so they must be prevented (from entering the country)," he said here on Friday.
The Finance Minister accompanied President Joko Widodo on Friday during inspection of four containers of illegal textiles that were confiscated.
He said the operation to confiscate the illegal product was carried out following indications that the product would be distributed directly to agents and not to the bonded zone destination in Purwakarta.
"When they arrived at Tanjung Priok port, two containers did not go to the bonded zone in Purwakarta (West Java). Instead, one went to a warehouse in Marunda, Jakarta, and the other to Cikampek in Palimanan, West Java. These were caught on the charge that the containers did not go where they were supposed to," he said.
The Directorate General of Customs and Excise received information about the four containers on Friday (Oct 2) and after a thorough analysis and tracking down of the product, it was found that the goods have been misused.
The four containers came from PT KYH bonded zone in Purwakarta. The imported goods in the containers were to be unloaded outside the zone and transported directly to other places for sales without paying the import tax.
The goods smuggled from China by suspect AI included 3,519 textile rolls or 376,000 yards of cloth, worth US$1,028,000. In all, the state suffered a loss estimated at Rp2.21 billion.
The suspect is believed to have violated Customs Law number 102 on smuggling and Article 103 on manipulation. The case is now being criminally investigated.
The bonded zone is a facility given by the government to certain companies that wish to delay the payment of customs and import taxes to boost exports. So far, the facility has often been misused.
President Joko Widodo hailed the foiling of the illegal textile imports in the bonded zone, saying the distribution of unlicensed products has been disrupting the national textile industry.
He appealed to the police and the attorney generals office to support the Directorate General of Customs and Excise to prevent such cases from recurring in the future.
"I have ordered the police chief and the attorney general to back the Directorate General of Customs and Excise so that this kind of product (illegal textile) does not pass slip into the country again because not only will it deny income to the state, but it would also damage the domestic market. Our industries cannot compete in such a market then," he said.(WDY)
