Auditor General Terrance Bastian found that a "large number" of bills of lading were released by the Customs Department "without evidence to suggest that duties were collected". The 2012 Report of the Auditor General, which was tabled in the House of Assembly this week, covers the period between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012. In his examination of the Customs Department, Bastian found that there were many outstanding examined entries. Those manifest entries had a combined value of $218,855.48.

The manifest is an invoice of goods. Following the examination of the incomplete manifest, the auditor finds that the "total number of unentered entries was 5,980 for 2010/11 to date, of which 5,097 have not been cleared to date". Bastian has raised similar concerns in previous reports.

In the latest report, Bastian also highlights the widespread application of incorrect rates of duty. The report says such concerns were found in several islands. "Continuous audits were carried out on the Customs Section at Abaco, Eleuthera, Exuma and Grand Bahama by our satellite offices," says the report.

"Accounts from our ports were audited in Nassau. Additional surprise audits were carried out. During our audits for Family Island accounts, the following were observed: incorrect rates of duty were applied and insufficient warehouse space at some ports of entry."

It has also found that the incorrect rate of duty was applied in "many instances" during an examination of Customs House entries in New Providence. The auditor general notes that work was done to "considerably close the gap" by implementing the first phase of the cash receipting interface with the general ledger, in a bid to keep proper accounts.

"In the first phase, revenues collected by New Providence were posted directly to the general ledge," the report says. "This eliminated problems of time lags and human errors that existed with the manual process."

The auditor adds that interfacing all customs offices with the general ledger would eliminate the differences that exist between customs' unofficial and official statistics. The auditor general also brings focus on the collection of departure tax, which is also the responsibility of the Customs Department. The report notes that travel agencies and airlines collect departure tax and bring the revenue to the Customs Department.

"This process is plagued with challenges due to the delay in payments to Bahamas Customs," the report says. "Customs collected approximately $44 million in departure tax and has an outstanding balance of approximately $6.5 million." The auditor recommends that the government consider setting up a departure tax collection center at the airport to eliminate outstanding departure tax and improve the timely collection of revenue.

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