KARACHI: The Research and Development (R&D) Section of Model Customs Collectorate-MCC of Appraisement (East) has lodged an FIR against Muhammad Moeezuddin Ahmed, the owner of M/s AL-Huda Feeds for evading legitimate duty/taxes to the tune of Rs3.9 million through mis-declaration on imported consignments.
According to the details, Moeezuddin Ahmed owner of M/s. AL-Huda Feeds imported a consignment and sought clearance declaring the goods to be STB-240 classifiable under PCT 3824.9099 from China at the lowest declared value of $0.325/kg.
Subsequently, the staff of MCC Appraisement (East) sent the consignments’ samples for further examination to HEJ Laboratory. The examination report of the subjected consignments found the imported consignment is to be Paracetamol classifiable under PCT2924.2910 instead of the declared PCT 3824.9099.
The consignment of Paracetamol (Aspirin) was imported from China as pharmaceutical raw material of “Acetaminophen” without a license from the federal Ministry of Health, which is mandatory as per the provisions of Import Policy Order (IPO) 2013.
The entire scenario was built by an importer who is also an indenter dealing with importing the consignments from China & India and deliver to all areas of the country. The importer has been known to be using IDs of different Importers / Clearing Agents in filing the goods declaration.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Additional Collector (ADC) Nayyar Shafiq of MCC-Appraisement (West) and Appraising Officer (AO) Shahid Ibrahim Dasti in AIB/R&D Branch have already unveiled the said mis-declaration and lodged several FIRs against the said import in the month of September 2014 during a crackdown against the unscrupulous elements, on the directives of Collector-MCC Appraisement (West) Muhammad Saleem.
In the said case, the sources informed customnews.pk that the R&D Section of MCC-Appraisement (East) has detected around 83 consignments, which have been cleared in the month of December 2014 while 9 consignments are still in pending.
On information, Chief Collector Appraisement South Nasir Masroor directed the Collector Appraisement East Manzoor Memon to put hold on the pending consignments immediately and lodge FIRs against the importer.
It may be mentioned here that the R&D East has recently sent proposals to the Collector-Appraisement (East) to lodge FIRs against the defaulter importer. However; the Collector-MCC (East) is reluctant to register the FIRs against the importer and clearing agents.
The sources disclosed that only one FIR has been registered against the importer in his alleged involvement in defrauding the national exchequer up to the extent of Rs3.9million, while the gravity of the said tax evasion scam is much larger than Rs1.0 billion it has to be taken by the MCC-Appraisement (East).
The sources further disclosed that the lukewarm approach of the concerned authorities of the Collectorate despite the clear directives of Chief Collector hinted that the senior most officer of the Collectorate i.e. MCC-Appraisement (East) is wanted to bury the scam and to dilute its sagacity.