Côte d'Ivoire's customs have seized around 2,000 metric tonnes of falsely declared cocoa beans worth around $19 million at its main port in Abidjan, two customs sources and one judicial source said on Tuesday.
Cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate, is usually smuggled over Côte d'Ivoire's western border to Guinea and Liberia where traffickers pay above the local farm-gate price for the commodity.
However, last week Côte d'Ivoire's customs discovered that a cocoa exporter had made a false declaration to pay less tax on the shipment at the port.
They seized 110 containers that according to the document were supposed to contain rubber, a customs officer familiar with the case told Reuters.
Corruption
"To my knowledge, this is the first time we've made such a seizure. 2,000 tonnes, or around 15 million pounds, is a huge amount," another officer said.
The tax on this shipment should have been 19.5%, including the 14.5% tax on cocoa exports and the 5% registration tax. In that case, Côte d'Ivoire would have collected 2.9 million pounds in taxes.
Meanwhile, the tax on rubber exports is only 1.5%.
A source close to the judicial authorities said this fraud was possible due to the high level of corruption in the administration and the complicity of various departments.
"We seized this case ... and we are still investigating. We can't say anything at the moment," a prosecutor close to the case said.
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