ILLEGAL IMPORTS OVER $2m

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31584, 23 January 1968, Page 1

ILLEGAL IMPORTS OVER $2m

Six Customs Officers Under Suspicion (Hew Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 22. Thirty officers from the Police Department, the Customs Department and the Audit Department are now working on the inquiry which started last April into illegal importing. The inquiry is not expected to finish before May. The value of goods brought into the country illegally is now thought to be not less than $2 million and, according to one estimate, probably close to $lO million.

At least six Customs examining officers are suspected of supplying importers with blank debit cards and licence extract forms, or of arranging for goods to be taken through Customs without inspection.

Bank records are understood to show that one officer deposited twice the amount of his salary over a period of five years. Earlier in the inquiry, bank records were obtained by the police with the authority of search warrants issued by Magistrates. Further records are now being obtained by Audit Department officers under spe-

cial powers conferred by the Banking Act. In addition to Customs officers and importers, suspects are believed to include Customs agents, carriers and buyers. At Questioning A Wellington solicitor said that he was present while a client of his was questioned and he was concerned at the way in which this was done. He said the questions were asked to obtain evidence for prosecutions under the Crimes Act and the Secret Commissions Act, and under these Acts there was no compulsion to answer. But the questions were put under section 255 of the Customs Act, 1966, which provides a fine of up to $2OO for failure to answer questions during investigations.