CUSTOMS STORIES, WHY AREN’T THEY GENERATING INCOME. We are waiting for some freight before the end of the month, a new “Aruba to the Beach & Beyond” magazine for ATSA, the timeshare association hotel rooms so I called my Customs Broker. What’s happening, I asked. He was full of stories. Apparently MinFin finally asked the question: We received over 2,500 containers in the harbor, but the level of income from taxation doesn’t reflect that, so where is the money? True to his conviction that something is muddled he ordered an audit. Which slowed things down considerably since every container now must be inspected BY TWO PEOPLE, before it is released, which created a bottleneck, where merchants can’t get their hands on their goods, in December. Why don’t you conduct an audit in September?? Additionally seven customs agents were suspended for minor offences, but as you know I am a great believer in the theory that tolerance of small offences results in big offences. So anyway, with seven agents at home, the pressure on the remaining ones increased. My Customs Broker whose name shall remain anonymous also told me that on numerous occasions the invoice presented to him by Customs was underpriced, and that mysterious computer errors are consistently undercharging brokers for goods released. Undercharging, I asked? Yes, he says, when I expect an Awg 1,900 bill, I often get charged for a fraction of that, but I am honest, I tell them to fix it! On a roll he continued to vent, asking how is it possible that a fancy, 65”TV costs just Awg 1,350 in Aruba. They are importing cheap goods from China, and under-taxing them when the container arrives, he quickly answered his own question. And why are there so many right hand drive cars on the island, because they are bringing them in from Japan, where they are cheap — Nissan Note, 2013, for $5,800, Honda Fit Hybrid 2013, $10,750, Toyota Vitz 2009, $2,500, so naturally, the government makes much less money on the import duties. Besides, he continued many containers are in transit, from Jamaica to Venezuela for example, and thus tax-free, no income for the island. Basically, he concluded, you get a container of air-conditioners, it says Inverters on the invoice, it’s the Custom’s Agent responsibility to check it indeed, because 2% tax on inverters, VS. 22% tax on old fashioned air-conditioners, that makes a big difference to the government’s pocket! Finally, I recently bought an Inverter air-conditioning unit from UNICON. I can tell you with great confidence that the company pocketed the tax-break and did not share it with me!
CHEF GERARD COSTE RELOCATES TO THE HILTON. One of Aruba’s best chefs is relocating to the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino. French-born Gerard Coste was the executive chef at the Wyndham, which then morphed into the Westin. He ran a number of excellent kitchens there. We always thought that Pago Pago and Baci restaurant were the best kept secrets on the island, just because Chef Gerard was responsible for the kitchen production. Then a promotion beckoned and the chef traded in his white coat for regular office clothes, at the Radisson Aruba Resort Casino & Spa as Director of Food & Beverage. Then I think he returned to the Westin, which morphed into RIU, and when I met him again he was Executive Chef at the Alhambra Casino & Shops where he oversaw the excellent banqueting operation of the complex. We worked together on Aruba Iron Chef 2015, he catered the banquet portion of the event for 144 guests. It was amazing. So then the Hilton’s General Manager who is incidentally a Frenchman, became interested; birds of a feather flock together, the Dutch love Dutch cooking, the French love, you guessed, French cooking. So Olivier Maumaire invited the chef to cook a test-meal at the Hilton, and Gerard was happy to please. Bottom line, he is starting on December 16th, as a great addition to the culinary team of La Grande Dame. He is creative, passionate and hardworking, now he just has to stop smoking to be totally perfect! Equally amazing, Corporate Chef Matt Boland, Divi Resorts, who is a personal friend of Chef Gerard Coste, invited chef Paul Zijlstra back into the fold, to assume a position with Divi’s culinary team. No shoe remains empty for long!
