Custodian of Goods cannot deny his liability for export of Illicit Goods

The appellant is a Customer Freight Station (CFS) and a custodian of goods for the purpose of import and export in terms of section 45 of the Customs Act 1962 (hereinafter referred to as ‘Act’). A show cause notice dated 16.10.2007 was issued by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) pursuant to the seizure of 30.212 metric tonnes of ‘red sanders logs’, being prohibited goods, falsely declaring the same to be ‘natural granite chips’. A response was filed by the appellant on 20.2.2008 denying any involvement in the transaction. The defence taken was to the effect that the goo...