Last year, tour operator Yhony Rosado held a press conference in which he explained that a vehicle he'd bought and imported into the country was impounded by police after it was found to be stolen. And in our investigation, we found that Belize Rural North area rep, Marconi Leal's name came up on the appraisal form. He told us that he had no interest in the vehicle, he'd just "asked customs to assist a friend with a little discount on the duty."
Today, we asked the Deputy Comptroller for Enforcement and Compliance at the Customs Department if this is a regular practice.
Lawrence Thompson, Deputy Comptroller, Enforcement & Compliance
"I personally have not received any recommendations as such signed by any minister of government for any intervention or whatever for customs. If you would bring in a vehicle and you would request from my office some additional help for assistance for your vehicle, let's say the vehicle valuation is a bit high for you and you believe that you ask for some leniency in that regard. We would look at the circumstances surrounding that and if in fact you are deserving of additional reduction of the vehicle, then that is applied. But that has many variables that are put into consideration whether or not additional consideration would be given. The process for valuating a vehicle a straight and forward process where we have a valuation unit that does all the valuation for vehicles, but understand the economic situation for individuals that in the country if someone is not satisfied with the valuation given by the valuation unit then they have a right to appeal and then the appeal would be considered based on different variables."
We also asked if stolen vehicles are frequently imported into the country.
Lawrence Thompson, Deputy Comptroller, Enforcement & Compliance
"Stolen vehicles are part of an Interpol activity. So whenever vehicles comes into the country under 5 years, we would submit them to Interpol police for them to verify. All those vehicles are sent to Interpol and Interpol do their due diligence running it through their system and then they return that information to us and then based on those information then we act on those information. If it's a negative result, then the vehicle is cleared for clearance. If it's a positive result, then that vehicle starts an investigation to determine the who, why or how things happened."
Reporter
"Have you seen an increase of stolen vehicles coming through customs?"
Lawrence Thompson, Deputy Comptroller, Enforcement & Compliance
"We have not observed that as yet, but we know that it is a possibility that vehicles could be used through that means."
Our review of the documents filed for the customs entry relating to Yohny Rosado's 2021 Volkswagen Atlas had inconsistencies which - experts tell us - any careful review by customs should have detected. Secondly, at that time, it is clear that the police and customs vetting processes were not in sync.
