Source: 24 Horas News - MT - 25/10/2009

The lack of public policies to control the country's dry borders and the lack of interest from federal tax and police auditors in working in inhospitable regions increasingly facilitate the entry of products, weapons and drugs without supervision on the border between Brazil and Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay. In an area of ​​about 6.000 kilometers of dry border from Barra do Quaraí (RS) to Cáceres (MT), Sindireceita (union of tax analysts of the Federal Revenue) found, in a survey carried out in September, that inspection posts of the Revenue in 16 cities in five states are without auditors, infrastructure and equipment for customs work.

 

Without necessary inspection on the border between Brazil and neighboring countries, it enters everything into Brazilian territory illegally, according to tax auditors, federal police officers and São Paulo businessmen. There are 245 tax auditors and 351 tax analysts in 31 inspectorates of the Revenue in a strip of 15 thousand kilometers from the North to the South of the country to carry out import and export dispatches, to control the so-called “ant” trade, in addition to combating smuggling, , piracy and trafficking in drugs, weapons and ammunition, according to Sindireceita.

 

Alternative routes

The survey, which will be extended to the North, will be forwarded to the Federal Revenue Service. The main objective is to show that, after the strengthening of control on the international Friendship bridge, which connects Foz do Iguaçu (PR) to Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), groups working with contraband and smuggling migrated to alternative routes in the five states visited by Syndicate.

 

Cigarettes, toys, clothes, medicines, pesticides, wood, beverages, electronics, tires, PVC pipes, computers, CDs, coal and agricultural products are the main products brought illegally to Brazil.

 

“The fiscal post in Barra do Quaraí (RS) is practically abandoned. In Corumbá (MS), a dirt road was made behind the Revenue unit and the server cannot inspect it because he cannot leave the station. In Dionísio Cerqueira (SC) there is a tax analyst on duty ”, says Paulo Antenor, president of Sindireceita.

 

“We note that the situation has worsened in the past two years also because of the swelling of positions at the top of the Revenue after the unification with Social Security. It is necessary to decrease the number of people in managerial positions and to increase the number of employees in operational positions, as in border inspection posts ”, he says.

 

Before the merger of the Revenue with Social Security occurred (April 2007), there were 2.987 leadership positions, according to another survey by Sindireceita. After the merger (May 2007), that number grew by 53% (4.567).

 

Sought by Folha since Monday, the IRS did not comment on the matter. On Friday, the agency's secretary, Otacílio Cartaxo, announced Operation Advent to suppress smuggling and embezzlement in Foz do Iguaçu. From January to August, R $ 880,2 million in contraband products were seized in the country (26,6% more than the 2008 monthly average).

 

Fiesp trains inspectors

The precariousness of the Internal Revenue Service's posts and the lack of public policies to face the free entry of goods at the country's borders are confirmed by those who were in charge of the Internal Revenue Service, by Sindifisco (union of auditors) and by business entities.

 

“The lack of border inspection is more than known. Fiesp has a commercial defense service that trained about 2.500 inspectors who work in the customs area to help fight smuggling, embezzlement and piracy ”, says Roberto Giannetti da Fonseca, director of the Foreign Trade Department from Fiesp. When customs fails, unfair competition is created in the market. “It is necessary to reinforce the intelligence work of the Internal Revenue Service, but the authority also needs to mark territory at the borders”, says Pedro Delarue, president of Sindifisco.

 

After the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Police intensified inspection in Foz do Iguaçu, according to Delarue, the movement of products entering and leaving Guaíra (PR) skyrocketed.

 

The IRS is unable to conduct customs work alone on the country's borders. For this to happen effectively, everyone's opinion is unanimous: there must be joint action between the tax authorities, the PF and the Army.

 

“PF and Receita must get closer and we are working on that. In July, the two institutions signed a cooperation agreement, ”says Josemauro Pinto Nunes, delegate of the Federal Police's Counterfeiting, Smuggling and Piracy Division.

 

Everardo Maciel, former secretary of Revenue, says that, in addition to the partnership, it is necessary to stimulate the servers. “In addition to having a defense plan for the country's border, specific contests can be made for certain regions, as was the case in my time [1995-2002]. What cannot happen is that the tax post is uncovered. ”