Car rental individuals and companies are advised to take
all possible precautions against tenants who put leased cars for illegal
purpose
By Abebe Hunachew
The Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) advised car rental
individuals and companies to take all possible precautions against
tenants who put leased cars for illegal purpose.
Ato Teklil Walga, Coordinator, Akaki Kaliti Check-point, said that
car tenants are posing serious problem by putting the cars they have
leased for unlawful purpose. According to the coordinator, in the
month of May 2010 alone, five leased cars, including automobiles and
isuzu trucks, were arrested at Akaki Kality Check-point for trafficking
smuggled goods. Out of these vehicles, two were found trafficking
spare parts worth 695,844 birr. Car tenants who involved in smuggling
are doing harm on ERCA’s effort to collect government revenue
necessary to finance various development projects.
The coordinator indicated that smugglers are presently well alive
to the legal clause that says means of transport found passing smuggled
goods shall be forfeited. Consequently, leaving their own cars aside,
smugglers have opted to use leased cars as a tool for achieving their
illegal activity. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, the coordinator
said, car rental individuals and companies must not lease their cars
without having adequate information about the tenants. He said that
the tenant’s identity card can be used as a source of information
needed in selecting tenants and making judgment whether to grant them
cars in a lease or not. He added that any decision to lease a car
for a tenant should be made based on the information gathered about
the individual.
He pointed out that failure to take the necessary precaution may
cause car rental companies two fold problems: firstly, they are liable
to pay a fine not less than the duties and taxes payable on the smuggled
goods. Secondly, they lose their vehicles as a result of confiscation
unless they prove to the satisfaction of the court that the smuggling
act performed by the tenant was out of his/her knowledge and consent,
and that he/she was unable to prevent it. To avert the risk of being
penalized, car rental individuals and companies are advised to take
the necessary precaution before they set their mind to grant cars
in lease.
To deter future crime committed by unruly car tenants, there is a
punishment which the court assigns to them. Some of these punishments
include confiscation of the seized goods and long years prison terms.
