BOC wants bank account of steel company frozen

The Bureau of Customs yesterday sought the freezing of bank account of the owner of the smuggled steel sheets worth P160 million that were seized on Thursday from a warehouse in Carmona, Cavite.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said he has requested Anti-Money Laundering Council executive director Vicente Aquino to freeze the corporate bank account of Steel Pro Philippines and personal accounts of its executive officers in connection with the foiled smuggling of the company of 36 coils of prime hot rolled steel sheets.

“We are referring the case to AMLC since their [Steel Pro] accounts may be used to launder proceeds of smuggling,” said Morales.

In his letter to AMLC, Morales identified five executive officers of Steel Pro: Jasper Tan, president; Jannette Nellie Chit, vice president; Paullette Gail Tan, corporate secretary and treasurer; Warren Tan, director and Bel­tran Belizar, import manager.

The request came in the wake of a successful raid by BOC operatives of a warehouse inside Mountainview Industrial Complex in Car­mona, Cavite Thursday, where 36 coils of prime hot-rolled steel sheets identified to be imported by Steel Pro were found to be co-mingled with 560 coils of steel sheets.

“Inventory report shows that aside from the 36 originally being tracked down, 470 coils of cold-rolled steel sheets and 90 other coils of prime hot-rolled steel sheets were found in the warehouse. We estimate these to be worth a total of P160 million,” said Morales.

The seized coiled steel sheets were imported from Taiwan by Philippine Bonded Warehouse Services, Inc. for the account of Steel Pro Philippines, a Customs Bonded Warehouse owned by a certain Jasper Tan.

Morales told reporters that the seizure stemmed from a tip from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to his office about the alleged diversion or non-delivery of the imported steel sheets to its final destination at Steel Pro Warehouse in Trece Martires, Cavite.

The BOC chief said he immediately issued a mission order to track down the missing shipment.

After operatives verified that some of the rolls of coiled steel sheets found in the warehouse were part of the original shipment of Steel Pro, Manila International Container Port collector Adelina Molina issued the warrant of seizure and detention for the goods.

Morales oversaw the sealing-off of the warehouse and inventory of the goods. A team of Run After the Smugglers (RATS) lawyers led by Deputy Commissioner Reynaldo Umali also conducted on-site investigation for the filing of criminal cases against the importer and owner of the warehouse.