Customs Seal Gold Shop, Minister of Finance Purbaya: The Goods are Spanish, Half Nyolong 

JAKARTA - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa explained the reason behind the rampant sealing of jewelry stores by the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) in recent times.

To note, the DJBC Jakarta Regional Office has sealed the Tiffany & Co. outlets at Plaza Senayan, Plaza Indonesia, and Pacific Place on February 11, and the sealing was then carried out again on February 20 against the Bening Luxury Store in the Penjaringan area, North Jakarta.

According to Purbaya, the sealing was carried out because the goods being traded did not meet the obligation to pay import duties.

He called this practice as Spanish goods alias half-stealing to describe the condition of paying import duties that were not fully paid, some were only partially paid.

"Yes, the goods are Spanish, half of them are stolen, half of them are smuggled. This means that there are those who do not pay 100 percent of the import duty, there are those who (pay) 50 percent, there are those who are 25 percent, later seen by the Customs people like what," he told the media, Monday, February 23.

However, Purbaya admitted that he had not received a report regarding the total potential loss of the state due to the alleged administrative violations of imports and was still waiting for the official calculation results.

"The total loss I have not received the report. In the future, we will definitely see what it is like," he said.

He assessed that the practice of selling imported goods that do not meet customs obligations and are sold openly at high prices as a serious form of non-compliance with the rules.

Purbaya emphasized that the government was committed to taking firm action against all illegal economic activities in order to protect the domestic market from the circulation of illegal goods.

"If people say, people in the field, they have stolen, then sell it in front of us, it's like insulting the government. If you steal, sell it in the dark, so that it won't be found. It shouldn't be either? We will chase it anyway. So we will keep the domestic market secure from illegal goods," he said.