|
Interview with Frank Ferguson,
Principal Customs Advisor,
Crown Agents’ Bulgarian Customs Modernisation Programme
28th of December 2005
“Dnevnik” Daily Newspaper
Journalist: Mr. Hristo Hristov
Frank Ferguson is a Principal Customs Advisor of Crown Agents in Bulgaria since the beginning of December 2005. He has worked for the British company for 3 years, but at the same time he is an officer from the British Customs, where he has worked for 30 years. In the British Customs he is an assistant chief of investigation. For the last 6 years he has worked out of the UK. Before coming to Bulgaria he has worked in Brussels for the European Union, where he has taken part in the evaluation of the drugs trafficking in the EU member states. “For three years I managed to visit all the EU member states and this helped me a lot for my work in Bulgaria”, he says.
What is your appraisal of the work of the Bulgarian Customs?
I quickly realised that Bulgaria had a long history in terms of its Customs service. So I did not come here to patronise. I just came here to help with some of the experience I have. I realised that the there is already an awful lot of experience and expertise within the BCA. But because of the history of this part of the world in the last 50 years, obviously it needed some modernisation.
Could you please outline the most distinctive difference between the Customs in 2001 and today?
One basic indicator is the amount of revenue which the Customs collects. I think in the first nine months of 2002 compared to the first nine months of 2005 there has been a 98% increase in the revenue collection by the BCA. We would like to think that we played a positive part in the continuing uprise in the revenue streams. If you asked for a performance indicator on the improvements in the BCA, that has got to be a primary example.
Could you comment whether there is any change in the cooperation between the institutions (in the mobile teams) after the new government came into power?
At the operational level they are professional people and they are employed to do their work and there has been no change in their performance, always been a high standard. I see the members of the teams almost every day and there is a good will and cooperation between them.
The reason why I am asking this is because very recently the interior minister said that the Customs were hiding information from the MI? People who are familiar with the work in the BCA know that this is not true and that the officers from NSCOC have access to the information system of the Customs. What is the reason for such an accusation?
I do think that it would be proper for me to comment.
O.K., do the officers from the NSCOC in the mobile teams receive information from the BCA information system?
I think that is a question you have to address to the BCA, because they own the databases.
- Is there any change in the attitude towards your company (after the formation of the new Govt)? How is your dialogue with the finance minister going?
The change has been seamless. We have a formal reporting procedure. And I personally write a letter to the minister of finance every week, outlining the results of the mobile teams. Then much more informally there are frequent meetings with the people from the MoF to respond to any questions or problems they may have.
To what extent the advices you give are taken into consideration and implemented?
Over the course of this current contract, we have made a number of key recommendations and these recommendations are regularly reviewed. (There is an ongoing constant dialogue with the stakeholders within the BCA regarding the recommendations and the provision of assistance to make them become a reality. Of course, some recommendations are more easily achieved than others. And it is not a question of lack of good will. Sometimes it can be a question of lack of resources to achieve a recommendation. We understand that. So we try and be inventive to try to achieve what is needed by different ways, and by being flexible. We are not going to make recommendations which are unrealistic and which can not be achieved.
There are certain circles of people in Bulgaria, close to the ex State Security Services, who have always said that you are the “bad” people, that you are “agents”, that you export information from the Customs. What is your opinion about these things?
I honestly listen in amusement when I hear such stories. You will find, if you look at the advisors that are employed here, including myself, we are being loaned by different member states from the European Union. We have officers here from Sweden, Denmark, obviously UK, and our background is that we are experts in Customs work. And we genuinely want to see Bulgaria joining the EU. As individuals we genuinely draw satisfaction from seeing our work leading to improvements. And it is extremely satisfying and challenging. I can assure you that none of us, including myself most emphatically, are spies and as I said I find this very amusing. I have learnt some secrets about Bulgarian cooking and Bulgarian football, and if you don’t mind I will take those secrets back with me when I go home, but nothing else.
What is your opinion about the things which happened during the last two months and which directly impact the BCA - the murder of the head of the Post-Clearance Control Department of the BCA, the resignation of the deputy director Dimitar Tolev, who was responsible for the Customs Intelligence and the mobile teams; and the arrest of a head of a customs bureau?
First of all, I am a great believer that anybody who is accused of a crime should be properly tried before a court and not by the media. I fully respect the rules of law and order. If anybody is found guilty of corruption in a court of law then I will be the first to applaud that justice has been done. A primary part of our work is to help eliminate corruption so I support that process. But I can not comment on individual cases.
Are the Bulgarian Customs ready for the EU? Are they ready to merge with the European Customs system?
I think the answer is “yes”. I am very confident and otherwise I would not be here. One of the key things, of our key priorities, in the next 12 months will be to leave a legacy of sustainability. Crown Agents is not going to be here forever. How do we achieve this? Two ways! One is to identify and train potential leaders from the Bulgarian staff that are employed within the mobile teams so that they can replace the Crown Agents advisors. We have already begun this process. We have identified and trained 6 staff so far and early in the New Year, you will see Bulgarian-led mobile teams and the CA advisors taking more of a mentoring role from a distance. The other way is to look at options for structural reform and discussions are ongoing in this area.
|
Home 
