MANILA, Philippines?The Bureau of Customs (BoC) on Thursday filed smuggling cases against a luxury car dealer for defrauding the government of more than P68-million in duties and taxes for a span of only five months.

Slapped with a complaint for misdeclaration, misclassification and undervaluation of 10 luxury vehicles were Reynaldo Pazcoguin, president of Viking Haulers Inc.; Rodelito Biag, vice president; and Ofelia Pazcoguin, corporate secretary. Also included in the complaint were customs broker Benjamin Valic and several John Does.

Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez said the company managed to bring out of Customs three Lamborghinis; 3 Porsches; 3 Mercedes Benzes and a Masserati Quadroporte between January and May this year by paying only P17.4 million, which was P68.4 million lower than the correct duties and taxes.

Alvarez said the modus operandi of Viking Haulers and its broker was to declare the shipment simply as ?motor vehicles? which was a violation of existing requirement that the imported articles should be described in sufficient detail for tariff classification and valuation.

?Obviously the accused were able to get away with this practice of providing general or generic description because of the cooperation and assistance of their contacts inside customs who will soon be identified and included in the list of respondents,? Alvarez said.

There is already an ongoing internal investigation to identify the customs officials and employees who are cohorts of these importers, Alvarez said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Customs Commissioner Gregorio Chavez said that aside from misdeclaring the shipments, respondents also used spurious invoices to justify their gross undervaluation in the import entry by almost 80 percent.

In the case of the 2010 model Lamborghini Gallardo, for instance, Viking paid only P3,257,225.30 out of the P10.6 million correct duties and taxes. In the case of the 2010 model Mercedes Benz SL 65 that arrived on April 20, Viking paid only P1.1 million out of some P9.1 million it should have paid, while the 2010 model Porsche GT3, with dutiable value of P5.7 million, was released after payment of only P932,980.30 .

The most glaring discrepancy, Alvarez said, was the 2010 Lamborghini Murcielago which was cleared by customs after paying only P3.3 million out of P25.2-million correct duties and taxes.

Alvarez said they will try to collect from Viking Haulers the unpaid portion of the correct duties and taxes plus penalties and surcharges.

Failure to pay within 30 days, Alvarez said they have no recourse but to confiscate the vehicles from their present owners assuming they had already been sold.

At the same time, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said he would ask Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares to investigate and identify the buyers and conduct a lifestyle check.

?If they can buy these kinds of vehicles, then they must have paid substantial income tax,? Purisima said.