KARACHI: The DG I&I Customs of FBR has booked an importer, agent and a customs official for attempting to clear a consignment through under-declaration, which could result in a loss to exchequer to the tune of millions of rupees.
DG I&I, Lutf Ullah Virk had this information and he assigned the task to Director I&I Asif Marghoob siddiqui and Additional Director Nadeem Ahsan.
According to the information, Qalander Bux Abro, Owner of Qalandar Bux Abro Company, Amir Rauf of M/s Expeditor Agency and Appraising Officer Ehtesham-ul-Haq Paracha of MCC Port Qasim were attempting to clear a consignment of pile sheets declaring the Customs value at $0.65 per KG instead of $1.25 per KG, which is the actual value as per data.
The complete profile of M/s Qalandar Bux & Co. in the WeBOC was inspected and a consignment was re-examined. Pile Sheets were recovered from 03 Containers as per the declaration.
The actual duty and taxes ascertained on the consignment as per the actual rate i.e. $1.25 comes at Rs3.86 million of which Rs2.007 million were paid by the importer and an attempt was made to evade Rs1.85 million.
The scrutiny of data revealed that another importer had imported similar goods shipped by similar supplier at the rate of Euro 800 per ton, it was also known the supplier M/s Arcelormittal Commercial Luxembourg always issued the invoice in euros and not in dollars. While M/s Qalander Bux Abro submitted the invoice showing the value in dollars i.e. $588 per M.Tons.
Since the clearing agent could not justify the discrepancies, he submitted the check of the differential amount.
I&I has seized the imported goods and lodged an FIR accordingly.