Danville Walker has identified the illegal cigarette trade as one of the Customs Department's targets. - File

MANDEVILLE, Manchester:

Jamaica's customs chief Danville Walker upped the rhetoric in his campaign against corruption in the business sector, lashing importers who tried to dodge the tax net.

Addressing a Rotary Club of Mandeville meeting on Tuesday, Walker, in his trademark biting candour, accused some of the country's businessmen of being predatorily "selfish" while undermining the country's revenue base.

Corrupt traders

The customs commissioner said the deficit in the tax intake caused by corrupt traders contributed to inadequate funding for the essential services, resulting in equipment shortages and depressed salaries for policemen, teachers and nurses.

The commissioner also took a swipe at the "handful of persons" who he said imported under-invoiced agricultural products, imperilling the local farming industry.

Walker, a former director of elections who assumed the customs portfolio last year, also urged Jamaicans to get serious about achieving food security or they would face a perennial crisis of "struggling to find a better way for our children."

Underinvoicing

His department, he said, would be intensifying its drive to intercept underinvoicing and other breaches to ensure that appropriate duties are paid on imports.

Walker hit back at critics who said his policing of the ports was adversarial to free trade, saying that he was committed to making the Customs Department trans-parent and accountable.