If the owner of any vessel or goods or any other person at any time eludes or evades or attempts to elude or evade payment of, or refuses to pay, any charges payable by such owner or person to the Authority at the time when the same become due and payable, he shall be liable to pay to the Authority a sum equal to three times the amount of such charges, which sum shall be a debt due to the Authority and shall be recoverable by the Authority in any court of competent jurisdiction.