Customs officers object COPA claim

Customs officers have taken objection to a claim by the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) that they were drawing as much as 70 per cent as rewards from the fines imposed on tax defaulters.

The Custom Trade Union Alliance pointed out that the customs officers needed to be given rewards in order to keep them motivated to carry out investigations.

The Alliance said according to the Customs Act, rewards given to officers via the fine money is one of their rights, and added that around 50 percent of the fine would be given as rewards.

The trade union claimed that the statement of 70 percent of the fine money given as rewards to officers was incorrect.

Vice president of Custom Officers Union, Amila Sanjeewa said even though 50 percent of the fine money is given to the state and the remaining 50 percent is taken as rewards only 27 percent of the fine is given to the officers who made the detection.

“The balance is deposited to funds for officers who make detections that cannot be subjected to fines. Out of the 50 percent amount of the money sent to the government through two funds, 30 percent of the money is  sent to the consolidated fund under treasury and the remaining 20 percent is sent to the customs management fund which is not handled by the customs.” He said.