Efforts to establish a Customs Ombudsman office have been stalled due to the indifference of senior public officials.

Bribery and corruption in Customs and excise departments are common knowledge and they have become something of a culture.

SMEs have constantly complained that customs and excise officials extort bribes in order to clear their goods. They are victims of a complex and murky system and often do not know why they are being penalised or how a certain valuation is carried out. The only way out is to pay a bribe.

On the hand, larger companies resort to paying bribes in order to clear their goods hassle free and stay ahead of their competitors.

"Most of the profit oriented private sector always goes behind politicians and public officers to secure various favours and gains," president’s Counsel, Parliamentarian Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, said recently.

"It is notorious that most of the dealings in Sri Lanka Customs and the Excise Department are mingled with bribery and corruption. It is unfortunate that the private sector does not consider the far reaching consequences of their own conduct," he said.

Custom Ombudsman...

Last year the Association of Clearing and Forwarding Agents (ACFA) said it would lobby for an Ombudsman scheme although some of its members suggested the Director General of Customs be given more authority to control his officers.

"It would be good if we can have such a scheme, but there is already a mechanism in place where the Minister can be approached to settle disputes. So if the mechanisms of how the Ombudsman scheme will work can be sorted out there should not be a problem," the Director General of Customs Sarath Jayatilake said in response to these efforts.

Jayatilake pointed out that there were two sides to a coin. He said established big names often tried to move around the law and thus, keeping customs officials on constant guard.

To-date, officials have demonstrated an indifference towards establishing an Ombudsman’s office.

"They tell us it is important but on the other hand nothing is done," a freight forwarder said.

"We can lobby as much as we can but in no way can we afford to antagonise anybody or it may become too difficult to carry out our operations," he said.

A concept paper on re-structuring and reorganizing Sri Lanka Customs, prepared about four years ago, highlighted the need for an Ombudsman scheme but its recommendations went unheeded.

The paper said that internal appeal procedures are virtually non-existent partly due to corruption at the higher levels of the department and largely due to the reward system which gives officials a share of the penalties.

It said officers resent their decisions been overturned by superiors as it would deprive them of rewards.

"The Director General of Customs is more restrained than an outsider when dealing with his officers, particularly in light of the reward system. Customs officers have even taken the Director General to courts when their decisions have been overturned, depriving them of their rewards," it said.

The concept paper included several recommendations that included revising and rationalizing the Customs Law, creating a new tariff structure, new trade and investment laws, adopting trade facilitation mechanisms, automation of cargo clearance operations, establishing a customs training academy and a committee to give effect to these recommendations.

"Nothing has come out of this concept paper," its author, a retired Customs Director and former member of the World Customs Organisation Technical Committee, Elmo De Silva, told the Island Financial Review.

"An Ombudsman scheme is necessary not only to settle disputes but to get down to the root (the causes) of the disputes," he said.

Customs Automation...

The Sri Lanka Freight Forwarders Association said it was campaigning to fast-track the implementation of an automated Customs clearance system. The system is expected to allow the processing of documents to be carried out online.