KARACHI: A constitutional petition and Special Custom Reference Applications pertaining to 2000 sprinkler lorries case was heard by customs appellate bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) comprising Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi and Justice Mahmood A Khan.
The bench heard the petitioner appearing in person and Kashif Nazir Advocate, counsel for Pakistan Customs. According to petitioner, he opened Letter of Credit and entered into an agreement for importing the sprinkler lorries at the time when Import Policy Order (IPO) 2009 was in vogue and vehicles which are having Order 2013 which disallowed the vehicles which are older than five years and customs detained the vehicles as being violative of IPO 2013.
The counsel for customs took the court to different phases of the litigation upto Supreme Court and said that court has made observations regarding abuse of procedure of opening LC and alleged technical fraud to cover abuse of financial facility by the petitioner in league with a commercial bank.
The bench noted that while petitioner has withdrawn application including review petition yet he came to the High Court. The bench framed a tight compartment for arguments by both the sides affording last chance to the petitioner to satisfy the court in view of detailed and express order passed by the apex court.
The import was valued at US $ 12 million. Over 500 vehicles imported by the petitioner have been cleared under IPO 2009.