KARACHI: In pursuance of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) directives, Collector Appraisement West has constituted a team for carrying out examination and assessment of motorcycle kits/parts at MCC Hyderabad.
The FBR has devised this strategy to deal with the importers and unscrupulous elements who were availing stays from Courts against investigations and FIRs. Now, where one Directorate or Collectorate is stayed by the Court from carrying out investigations and proceedings; any other Collectorate or Directorate would pursue those cases. It is a very common practice, that importers/agents etc. facing investigations used to avail stays through misguiding the courts.
In the case of fraudulent duty/tax evasion by motorcycle assemblers, the Directorate General of Intelligence & Investigation was stayed to pursue the investigations by the Sindh high Court. However, Lutfullah Virk, DG I&I has asked MCC Appraisement West to pursue the case.
Collector Appraisement West, Mohammad Saleem has formed a team comprising Usman Tariq Assistant Collector, Shahid Dasti Appraiser, Abdul Aziz appraiser and Arif Ahmed Examiner. The team would leave for Hyderabad on Monday to scrutinize date/record and examine the motorcycle kits/parts at MCC Hyderabad.
Transshipment (TP) consignments destined to dry ports raise a lot of doubts, as a large number of scams and frauds have been detected with respect to TP consignments. It is interesting to note, that several dry ports do not even have the weight bridge, and when transshipment consignments arrive, these dry ports just clear the consignments on declared weight.
Lutfullah Virk, in a letter to Chairman FBR, informed that three motorcycle assemblers including M/s Memon Motors, Ms Raazy Motors and M/s D.S Motors pilfered a huge quantity of motorcycle parts/kits during the transit of TP consignments from Karachi to Hyderabad.
In one case, one container was intercepted after clearance and the same was re-examined and weighment was also carried out. Weight of 16.6 MT was recorded at Hyderabad against the ascertained weight of 27.9 MT recorded at Karachi indicating a difference of 11.3 MT i.e. 68 percent.
There is an evasion of revenue to the tune of Rs489 million during the last two years by the above mentioned manufacturers. Moreover, the DG I&I has also conducted a detailed analysis of imports carried out by various other motorcycle manufacturers throughout Pakistan.