'The other day I say saw a delivery guy smoking a cigarette ... and he said: ‘Just go down the road. There’s a guy at the garage. You can buy from him.’'
He cited reduced economic activity, the number of businesses that were unlikely to survive Covid-19 and the rapid rise of illicit and criminal economic activities, especially since the banning of tobacco and alcohol.
“In the past few days, our illicit trade unit visited a cigarette manufacturing plant and came across three of their machine lines actively producing. They intimated that they’re producing for exports, but cigarette export at the moment is not permissible. The other day I say saw a delivery guy smoking a cigarette ... and he said: ‘Just go down the road. There’s a guy at the garage. You can buy from him.’He added that in April alone, customs officials detained 43 people. Seventeen cases related to alcohol, tobacco and counterfeit goods.
“Taxpayer confidentiality prohibits me from telling you who the individual company is, but I want to give you the assurance that we act without fear, favour or prejudice. We don’t have any regard for who the individual or individuals are. We’ll enforce and apply the law as we’re required to do,” the commissioner replied.
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