Ford was accused of designing a scheme to avoid paying higher taxes on Transit Connect commercial vehicles imported from Turkey by classifying them on customs declaration documents as passenger vehicles, the Justice Department explained in a press statement, AFP reported.

According to the quoted source, the manufacturer even went so far as to install “fake rear seats (in the cabin) and other temporary devices to make these vans pass as passenger vehicles.”

“These rear seats were never intended to carry passengers,” the ministry said.

“After clearing customs, the seats were quickly removed from each of these vehicles, returning them to their original two-seater commercial vehicle appearance,” he explains, referring to the manufacturer’s factory located right at the port for this purpose.

Between April 2009 and August 2013, this trick allowed Ford to pay an import duty of only 2.5% instead of the 25% applied to trucks.

“Ford strongly disagrees with many of the allegations in the Department of Justice’s statement and disclaims any responsibility in this matter,” the company said.

“But in the spirit of not moving forward with this complex decade-old dispute, we have agreed to settle this matter once and for all,” she concluded.

Of the $365 million it will pay, nearly $183.5 million represents unpaid customs duties as a result of the scheme, according to an agreement between the manufacturer and the government released by the ministry.

The court said that nearly 163,000 Transit Connect vehicles (small vans of about 3 m3, according to Ford’s website) were imported from Turkey during that period.

The court also alleges that Ford understated the value at customs, including by using the wrong exchange rate or incorrectly accounting for discounts.

“The government will not allow companies to evade customs duties by mislabeling their products and then misclassifying them,” said Troy Miller, a senior official with Customs and Border Protection (CBP). , quoted in the ministry’s press release.