Web shopping tax war: Customs chief shows ‘smuggled’ checks

Santo Domingo.- The Justice Ministry, Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) and Internal Taxes (DGII) will launch an investigation into possible money laundering through checks in the millions of dollars brought illegally into the country.

Customs director Fernando Fernández made the announcement in a press conference in the Justice Ministry Thursday and handed 2,308 copies of checks retained by his agency during the last 15 days, to Justice minister Francisco Domínguez, DNCD president Julio César Souffront and DGII director Guarocuya Felix.

Fernández’s statement comes in the wake of mounting opposition to the Government’s planned tax on Web shopping, which an Arbitration Court ruled to halt.

"No one could see as normal that in less than three weeks those remittances could take place without declaring more than 6 million dollars in checks, written without beneficiary, others for the future, many signed without an amount, among other characteristics submitted locally by the Courier as documents," the official said.