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Corruption down at Customs
Walker, who was speaking at the Observer's Monday Exchange meeting of reporters and editors at the newspaper's head offices in Kingston yesterday, said that although the total number of containers received on the port last year amounted to 45 per cent of the number the previous year, the country was able to surpass the 2007 target by 63 per cent, as a result of the new measures.
"We looked at how much duty was foregone and in one year, in one port $13 billion was identified through that methodology," he said, adding that the loss was due to under-invoicing.
The Custom's boss said the new measures to stem corruption included the implementation of better procedures as well as increasing the number of customs officers at the ports.
"We have also began things like checking goods before they get here and .we also inspect the goods before brokers come to clear them and this helps to reduce the opportunities for corruption," Walker said.
Other measures included the installation of scanners in the baggage halls at both international airports.
"Before now the direction we went was to protect the border of another place, but now the focus is to detect things coming into our borders," Walker said, adding that there were plans to further increase the number of scanners at the airports.
Additionally, Walker said Customs has also been engaged in the profiling of passengers, in what he described as an intelligent way of looking at risk analysis.
"If you want to find alcohol and cigarettes coming into the island, then you check a Caribbean Airlines flight from St Marten which has a major duty-free shopping area," he said.
In addition, Customs officers now have access to computers linked to the Immigration Department which looks at travelling patterns.
"It is about working smarter rather than working harder," he said.
Also, Walker announced that Customs was looking at revitalising its Canine Division, and was hoping to partner with the Jamaica Defence Force and the police in that effort.
He said Customs had already started discussions with authorities in Curacao - the country which would be able to supply Jamaica with the dogs. The sniffer dogs, he said, would be used at both sea and airports.
Walker said Jamaica should also seek to adopt a system similar to that in Panama where the monitoring of scanners at the ports is done from more than one location to eliminate attempts to bribe a specific person.
Measures like these, he said, would force accountability as a lot of corruption takes place not because people are corrupt but because incompetent practices exist.
"There are a lot of good officers, but if you expose them to poor systems after a while they are going to come under the same threat," he said.
