Euro 218 million declared in customs points

TIRANA, March 6 – The Customs administration says some 47 mln USD (Euro 36 million) and 182 million euros, a total of Euro 218 million, was declared in customs points in 2012 in 576 cases while smuggled goods worth millions of euros were seized.
Under a 2008 law on the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism, “Every individual, resident or non-resident, entering or exiting the Albanian territory, is obliged to declare the money, any currency, precious metals or gems, valuable items, antiquaries, exceeding the value 1 million lek or this sum in other currencies, and the purpose of carrying them.”
“Non declaration of the money and valuable items in the border, in entrance or exit from the Albanian territory of any currency, or bank cheque, precious metals or gems and any other valuable items exceeding the value determined by law, is considered a criminal offence and penalized with a fine or until two years of imprisonment.”
A recent report by Washington-based anti-corruption advocacy group Global Financial Integrity, GFI, says corrupt elite took more than $1.3 billion (983 million) out of Albania from 2005-2010. The money equivalent to a third of Albania’s annual budget flowed illicitly out of the country over five years through a combination of corruption, tax evasion, and other illegal activities.
In its annual report the customs administration says it seized 95,000 cartons of smuggled cigarettes, 8,640 litres of alcoholic drinks, 810 kg of coffee, 2,400 mobile phones and 8,156 kg of narcotics in 2012.
The customs administration says it imposed 757 million lek in fines during physical controls and monitoring and filed lawsuits against 54 companies.
Starting from Oct. 1 the customs administration has taken over the collection of all excise tariffs, stripping the tax authorities of collecting excise on cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and domestically produced fuel by the ARMO refinery in an effort to improve excise collection, the second most important tax after VAT.
The customs administration says it collected around 130 billion lek in 2012, up only 1.1 percent compared to 2011.