The Task Force, set up by the Government and composed of the General Administration of Customs (AGD), of the Directorate General of Taxes (DGI), of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), the Central Unit of Financial information (UCREF), the Unit of Fight against Corruption (ULCC) and the 18 national jurisdictions of justice, at a conference-bilan yesterday Thursday around the actions it undertook to fight against corruption, smuggling, tax evasion, informed that its actions of recoveries by agreement or forced of arrears, seizures of illicit goods at customs... have allowed the State to increase its revenue by more than 2 billion gourdes from October 2012 to July 2014.

The leaders of the Task Force also reported that it allowed the AGD to intensify its interventions, and that just over 4 million articles styrofoam were seized as well as nearly 800,000 eggs, 225,000 sausages and salami and some 45,000 chickens and nearly 19 tons of poultry offal tainted.

In the frameworks of the actions of the Task Force, 198 trucks of goods were seized, 40 people were arrested, including 24 for 2013-2014.

Andral Joseph, Director General of the Directorate General of Taxes (DGI) indicated that for combaattre the practice of collecting TCA without paying it to the government at the end of month "specialized brigades were set up to check into the relevant institutions to force them to fulfill their tax obligations," recalling that the retention of the TCA is considered theft in Haitian law, and that the list of company engaging in such practices will be forwarded to the ULCC for teh suites. "If teh DGI not take steps, some taxes may be quietly forgotten."

Fresnel Jean-Baptiste, Director General of the General Administration of Customs (AGD), said that revenue anticipated or the 2013-2014 fiscal year ending September 30, 2014 were 24 billion gourdes and so far more than 21 billion gourdes have already been collected, indicating further that sales resulting from seizures totaled 200 million gourdes, which joined the State coffers.

Finally it was recalled that the DGI and the AGD share information in real time to prevent fraud on imports, including false declarations.

HL/ HaitiLibre