Civil servants abuse vehicle import rebate

Some of the civil servants recently allowed to import vehicles duty-free are now abusing the privilege, importing vehicles for other people and charging a “fee” for the service.

It is reported they are charging something between US$700 and US$1500 depending on the type of vehicles.

The vehicles remain registered in the names of the civil servants involved while being driven by others.

This means that the civil servant, who is allowed to import only one car every five years, has to continue commuting while someone else pays to drive “their car”.

So far at least 6 800 civil servants countrywide have managed to import vehicles duty-free while other applications are still pending.