DSI finds five luxury cars that allegedly attempted to avoid duty tax

The Department of Army Transportation (DAT) had asked the DSI to check 1,136 vehicles including 531 cars that were “broken” and not yet registered with the Department of Land Transport (DLT) and 605 cars that were in the process of revoking old registration numbers. 
The department wanted to see if any vehicles were illegally imported to avoid full tax, were stolen or went missing from the Customs Department's duty free zones. 
It has been alleged that a Colonel had conspired with some DLT officials to forge documents to claim that the vehicles had undergone nine military auctions last year. However, the DAT only hosts an auction for used vehicles once a year. 
After the DLT was notified that the 1,136 vehicles were auctioned and applying for new registration numbers in 20 provinces, the agency granted new registration numbers for 605 cars. It found out later that the cars’ documents were forged and they were not from the DAT auctions as claimed.
The DSI had initially identified the engine and car body numbers of five Cadillacs and two Chevrolets as those in the list of imported automobile parts for re-assembly, the source said. 
The source said seven vehicles had been submitted for registration with the DLT in 2013, although the request was later dropped. 
The DSI found that five out of the seven had forged documents to claim they had been through the military auctions, the source said.