Mozambique: Chinese company denies accusations
Photo: O País
The Mozambican Tax Authority has seized vehicle accessories worth more than 25 million meticais on suspicion that the products have entered the country fraudulently.
All merchandise for sale in Mozambique is subject to tax, and the siege against the offenders is being tightened. In yet another swoop, the Mozambican Tax Authority (AT) has identified a store selling undeclared merchandise on Avenida Guerra Popular in Maputo.
Among the accessories seized there are wheel rims, engine oil and bumpers. The AT suspects that the engine oil is counterfeit.
If the goods had entered the country legally, the state would have raised more than 12 million meticais in taxes.
According to Mozambican Tax Authority spokesman Fernando Tinga, the goods seized are not of national production and have been imported, without there being evidence of the regularity of the import process.
“Until proven otherwise, we assume that the goods have been the subject of customs fraud,” Tinga said. The AT was therefore investigating the process by which the goods were imported.
He also said that the Tax Authority would provide ample opportunity for the owner of the goods to prove their legality. “If this does not happen, naturally the tax authorities will intervene, through the measures enshrined in the law,” Tinga said.
Without recording an interview, the store owner said he had documents proving that he paid taxes when importing the now-seized accessories.
The Tax Authority has also closed four fuel pumps in the city of Matola, having detected that the fuel being sold there was smuggled.
By Ibraimo Assamo
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