Businessman, agent lose Dhs2m customs case

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A businessman and a clearance agent disguised 15kg of dates as gold to export them and hoodwink Dubai Customs into refunding import duties. They have lost the case.

The Asian businessman, 40, who manages a gold and jewellery shop, planned to deceive Dubai Customs that the 22-carat gold worth Dhs2 million he imported had not been sold within the country.  

Last year he struck a deal with a compatriot agent, 30, to execute a counterfeit transaction showing the agent purchased the 15 kilos from his shop and was going to re-export them to India.

The businessman was to pay the agent Dhs2 on each gramme of dates (30,000 in total). On his part, the businessman was planning to sell the gold in the local market and pocket tax-free proceeds. They got 18 packets of dates and sealed them with brown plastic tape used in protecting gold jewellery from scratches. They mixed them with 11kg of real gold. The agent carried them to the airport.

He presented fake documents to a senior Emirati customs inspector, 28, and handed him a Dhs10,500 bribe to condone the fraudulent scheme and let him obtain a Dhs109,072.50 import duty refund. 

The inspector explained that the agent also wanted a refund of a 5 per cent VAT. He thus wanted to get back Dhs218,145 in total. Dubai Police CID officers apprehended him in a sting operation.

During Dubai Criminal Court questioning, both men were charged with forging a Dhs2 million gold purchase receipt and a customs document, and presenting them to the inspector. They denied.  

Prosecutors demanded a tough penalty. The court sentenced each one to two years in jail and a Dhs10,500 fine to be followed by deportation. The Dubai Appeals Court has upheld the punishment.

On the record, the agent contacted and told the inspector he had a matter not to be discussed over the phone. They met at a bus station. “He told me he would meddle with gold quantities to be exported.

“He wanted a refund of import duty paid when the gold arrived in the UAE. He said he would replace gold with dates so we could share proceeds worth Dhs1,000 on each kilo of dates masked as gold. “He offered to give me Dhs700 and take Dhs300 and said that through such a deal I would be able to purchase a car within two months,” narrated the inspector who then notified the Dubai Police.