18^th of December
Bulgarian National Television
Central News Bulletin, 20.00 o’clock
Journalist: Ms. Nadejda Uzunova

HEADLINE:
Criminal interests can not influence the work of the Customs’ mobile assurance teams. For each lev (BGN), which Crown Agents receives from the Bulgarian budget, the company returns 65. This said the Principal Customs Advisor of Crown Agents in Bulgaria, Frank Ferguson, in a special interview for the Bulgarian National Television /BNT/. In order to minimize the risk of corruption practices in the system, the Brits have created a National Control and Coordination Centre. Bulgarian customs officers are being prepared to replace the Crown Agents advisers in the management of the mobile teams, Frank Ferguson announced for the central news of the BNT.

NEWS REPORT:
More that 5000 examinations have made the Customs’ mobile assurance teams for the last one and a half year. Frauds have been detected in half of the cases. The mobile teams are probably the most powerful weapon for busting contraband channels, the Crown Agents say. Customs officers, mafia-fighters and tax inspectors work together and based on the system of risk-analyses target the consignments and the trucks, which will be examined.

Journalist:
Is it possible for any of the members of the mobile teams to influence the process of choosing the targets which will be examined, e.g. to take bribes in order to cancel or not to examine certain loads?

Frank Ferguson:
We have strict selection procedures. So if one agency selects a particular target for examination all of the other agencies are also alerted because the information is shared. So there are few opportunities for people to work in isolation. And it is a fact that there is no evidence available to suggest that things are working other than they should be.

Journalist:
Are there any cases of a detected corrupt officer within the mobile teams?

Frank Ferguson:
No

The latest detections of the Ministry of Interior showed that sometimes the smugglers are prepared for the examinations of the mobile teams. They prepare two sets of documents. The first set contains lowered prices and values of the goods - the smugglers show it to the Customs in order to pay less excise duties. The other one contains the genuine values - it is shown only when there is a surprise examination of the mobile teams. The Crown Agents say that they can cope with this problem.

Frank Ferguson:
There are a number of ways. It would not be proper for me to announce them on national television because then I would have to think of other ways. But there is one obvious way, which I can illustrate. All we have to do is to wait for the consignment to be declared. And once they have declared it we will then do an examination to see if it matches the declaration.

During the last month the Crown Agents politely did not interfere in the dispute between the Ministry of Interior and the BCA. Ferguson did not want to comment on that issue, but pointed out what the situation is in the countries from the European Union:

Frank Ferguson:
To the best of my knowledge there is no country in Europe that has free access between agencies and their databases. All agencies have a common will to work together to fight crime, but there are strict procedures of how this can be done to ensure that there is no abuse of information.

Six Bulgarians will become leaders of the mobile teams during the next year. So far the teams were lead only by Crown Agents advisers. From next year, however, Crown Agents will gradually take a step back and mentor and help when appropriate.