Duty to be sought on rugby gifts

Press, 19 November 1981, Page 1

Duty to be sought on rugby gifts

New Zealand Rugby Union councillors will be asked to pay duty and sales tax on the cuff-links and necklaces given to them by Dr, Danie Craven, the president of the South African Rugby Board. The Customs > Department is satisfied that the duty of . almost 120 per cent on the jewellery has not been paid, reports the Press Association. However, enforcement officers are not yet sure whether anybody is guilty of intentionally evading the levies. A set of the gold cuff-links and one of the gold-and-diamond pendant necklaces were valued for the department in Auckland yesterday. Although customs officers - said that the valuation figure was confidential, they indicated that the combined duty

and sales-tax bill on both < gifts would be less than 51000. The chief customs enforcement officer in Auckland, Mr Robin Dare, said that reports that the cuff-links were worth $5OO and the necklaces $lOOO were probably based on retail values. The value for. customs purposes would be less than half of that. Customs officers ha' Caen told to collect the duty arid sales tax from the 18 Rugby Union councillors as soon as possible. Sales tax was applicable even though the items had been presented by Dr Craven on a trip to New Zealand in October with two

other South African rugby officials. How the gifts had entered New Zealand had still not been established. Mr Dare said, “At this stage we have a broad range of possibilities. At one end the importation has been made by someone who has accidentally forgotten to pay. At the other end, someone has deliberately attempted to evade duty and sales tax.” Mr Dare said that the department would try to identify which end of the scale applied. A Springbok tour supporter, Mrs Yvonne Willcox,

said she had met Dr Craven but had not exchanged any gifts. The head of the police planning for the tour, Chief Superintendent B. R. Davies, has declined to say whether he was on Dr Craven’s gift list. The sole Canterbury member of the Rugby Union’s council, Mr Russell Thomas, will wait until he hears from the Customs Department and learns the value of the gifts he and his wife received before deciding whether he will pay the duty. He said last evening that he doubted whether the gold coin, which figures promin-

ently on the cuff-links and the necklace pendant, was a Krugerrand, as had been reported. He said, “I have seen the Krugerrand and these are much smaller. I think they may be quarter-Krugerrands and this is something I want to check.” Mr Thomas said he was disappointed that the gifts had attracted such attention as an exchange of gifts was common practice in rugby. When he had managed the All Blacks in Britain in 1978 and 1979 he had made a number of presentations to presidents and chairmen of

host rugby unions and their wives. He said. “I have also personally given New Zealand rugs and sheepskin rugs to officials of teams to New Zealand with which I have been associated.” He was not short of cufflinks, having received about 20 sets over the years as rugby gifts. “However, it is hard to put a value on gifts and particularly gifts to wives. My wife has been a great asset to me. She is a sweet girl and if she wants to keep her necklace I will certainly do my best to see that she does.”