May 20,1999

COMMITTEE TO HOLD THIRD CUSTOMS OVERSIGHT HEARING

Hearing to Focus on U.S. Customs Management Issues


WASHINGTON -- Senate Finance Committee Chairman William V. Roth, Jr. (R-DE) today announced the Committee will meet on Tuesday, May 25, 1999 at 10:00 a.m. in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to hear testimony on the U.S. Customs Service: Ensuring Effectiveness, Integrity, and Accountability in Custom's Operations. Press Release #106-119 with background materials is available upon request.

The following witnesses are expected to testify before the Committee:

I. A panel consisting of:

Lawrence W. Rogers, Acting Inspector General, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Washington, D.C.

William A. Keefer, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Internal Affairs, U.S. Customs Service, Washington, D.C.

The Honorable Milton Mollen, Of Counsel, Graubard, Mollen and Miller, New York, NY

Vincent J. Parolisi, Former Internal Affairs Adviser, Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Department of the Treasury; Director, Narcotics and Currency Inspection, Office of Internal Affairs, U.S. Customs Service, Washington, D.C.

II. A panel consisting of:

Jack Bradshaw, Corporate Vice President and Director of Ethics and Compliance, Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL

John S. Moore, Senior Vice President, Siecor Corp., Hickory, NC

Jerry Cook, Vice President, International Trade, Sara Lee Knit Products Group, Winston-Salem, NC

Background

The hearing is the third in a series of Customs oversight hearings. The first hearing looked at Customs' commercial operations; the second examined Customs' enforcement efforts and how best to measure performance in an enforcement context. The third hearing will review Customs' internal management.

The Committee will hear from witnesses regarding the strength of Customs' current internal affairs programs, which provide a basic firewall against corruption and other malfeasance. The objective is to ensure that Customs has an effective internal affairs function and the broader goal of ensuring that Customs can determine when it faces systemic, rather than episodic, problems in those areas.

The Committee will also hear from witnesses regarding corporate internal compliance. Under the Customs Modernization Act, Congress shifted much of the burden of compliance to the trade community. The witnesses will discuss the investment it takes to establish an effective internal compliance program, the problems that smugglers can create for legitimate businesses when they infiltrate their operations, and the ways in which Customs can leverage its enforcement resources by partnering with the private sector in joint programs designed to prevent smuggling before it happens.