The Board of Grievances has set Aug. 7 as the date to hear a case brought by a businessman against the Customs Department accusing it of passing goods through customs under his name without his knowledge. The plaintiff is claiming SR6 million in compensation for losses incurred. He alleges that goods belonging to other businesses were put under his name to benefit from duty exemptions granted to him. The plaintiff says that Customs officers knowingly began accepting altered documents four years ago and that he was only made aware of it when he was presented in 2009 with a fine of SR4,900,000 for unpaid duties and warned that failure to pay would result in his property being seized, bank accounts frozen and a travel ban. The sum demanded was the result of “accumulating fines for exceeding exempted quantities of goods”, he said. “I looked into it and discovered that Jeddah Customs and Clearing Offices were allowing other businesses to import goods using documents in my name,” he said. “The imports often exceeded the regulatory volume of goods granted exemptions from duty.”
