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Clear The Air Letter to Hong Kong Customs Commissioner

Dear Commissioner,

In previous correspondence with your anti illicit tobacco taskforce it became clear that for contraband cigarette seizures in Hong Kong approx 30-40% seized was counterfeit, meaning that 60-70% of the seizures were genuine products.

This means the tobacco companies are repeatedly conspiring with their distributors to sell DNP products by failing to control their supply chain networks.

Even the local tobacco front organisation HKUAIT-Stopit states that counterfeit seizures are only 40% of the total.

Given that such genuine DNP/General cargo products emanate from

  1. Transnational tobacco corporations with local HKG representative offices
  2. Mainland corporations

Why is no action taken against such companies and their directors under the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance and for common law offences such as conspiracy to defraud HK Govt of excise taxation?

In cases where criminal prosecution might be hindered such as in offending companies based in South Korea, why is no civil action raised against them by Hong Kong Government?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tobacco-firms-to-pay-550m-over-smuggling-1.902510

http://www.cityam.com/1415884123/british-american-tobacco-whacked-650000-fine-hmrc-oversupplying-belgium-cigarette-market

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/16/bat-fined-for-oversupplying-tobacco-in-low-tax-european-jurisdictions

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tobacco-industry-accused-of-fueling-cigarette-smuggling-to-boost-profits-10287003.html

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2004/jul/09/smoking.europeanunion

https://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/collections/japan-tobacco-international-smuggling/

http://www.theguardian.com/bat/0,,191282,00.html

 

Kind regards,

James Middleton

Chairman

http://cleartheair.org.hk

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