Southern Customs Department denies illegal grain exports in embargo period
KRASNODAR. July 28 (Interfax) - The verification done by the Southern Customs Department did not confirm massive illegal exports of grain in the period of the Russian ban on grain exports.
The Southern Transport Prosecutor's Office said in June that officers of the Krasnodar, Rostov and Taganrog customs offices of the Southern Customs department failed to comply with the grain embargo the Russian government enacted because of severe drought conditions on August 15, 2010. The embargo was extended until June 30, 2011. The prosecutors said that about 160,000 tonnes of wheat were exported under the disguise of fodder.
The Southern Customs Department said on Thursday that the commission, which had been verifying the statement of the prosecutors, found that "no such commodities were cleared at customs offices of the Southern Customs Department in the period of the embargo on exports of grain and flour."
The export of cracked grain was not prohibited by the government resolution, which suspended the exports of wheat, meslin, barley, corn, and wheat or wheat-rye flour.
"The experts said samples taken from export batches consisted of cracked grain with an insignificant percentage of whole wheat, which showed that the exported commodity was legal," the department said.
"Therefore, the commission did not expose export ban violations in the export declarations presented by the Southern Transport Prosecutor's Office. Grain products (cereals, cracked grain and so on) exported through the Krasnodar, Rostov and Taganrog customs were not prohibited for exportation by the Russian government," the department said.
The prosecutors said that businessmen found a way to dodge the export ban. The companies, which had signed grain export contracts, started exporting cracked grain. The new contracts said directly that the grain exported as fodder was consumed as food grain.