KARACHI: The Customs Appellate Tribunal has dismissed the appeal of an importer who had been imposed fine and penalty by Customs Adjudication for misdeclaring weight and value of the consignment.
According to details, M/s Mushtaq Brothers imported a consignment of cotton blended gents shirting fabric from Thailand and sought clearance declaring value of the consignment to be $15,422. The consignment was subjected to physical examination.
The examining staff found an invoice from the container showing transaction value of the goods to be $128,474.45. The difference between the declared value and the value as per invoice found pinned on consignment comes to $113,052.45. Moreover the ascertained weight of the consignment was found in excess of the declared weight to the tune of 13 percent.
The appellant was charged, and the Adjudication ordered confiscation of the goods with an option to redeem the goods on payment of fine Rs4.784 million; a penalty of Rs200 thousand was also imposed on the importer.
The importer approached the Tribunal challenging the Adjudication order and submitted that the invoice found with consignment was neither issued by the foreign supplier of the goods imported nor did it relate to the goods.
The importer through the counsel submitted that the values mentioned by impugned invoice had absolutely no comparison with the valued on which hundreds of consignments of identical goods have been historically assessed by the Customs.
The importer stated that the impugned invoice might have been placed inside the container by some business rival of the importer, though no evidence to that effect was placed on record.
Customs stated that the invoice recovered from the container related to the goods imported in all aspects and that the same represented transaction value of the imported goods.
After observing all evidences and arguments, the Tribunal found importer guilty as charged and endorsed the order of Customs Adjudication.