KARACHI: MCC Appraisement West and MCC Appraisement East have lodged several FIRs against importers for submission of fake/ forged payment realization Certificate (PRCs) / Encashment Certificate(s)/ Credit Advices in nexus with United Bank Limited (UBL) staff.
Information was passed through Chief Collector South Wajid Ali that some unscrupulous elements are engaged in clearance of vehicles against submission of fake Proceed Realization Certificates (PRCs) / Encashment Certificate(s)/ Credit Advice (s) and their subsequent verifications from concerned bank.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Ministry of Commerce inserted certain legal requirements vide Appendix-E of the Import Policy Order, 2020 to be fulfilled for the import of old/used vehicles by Overseas Pakistanis availing Baggage / Transfer of Residence and Gift scheme.
“All vehicles in new/used condition to be imported under transfer of residence, personal baggage or under gift scheme, the duty and taxes shall be paid out of foreign exchange arranged by Pakistan Nationals themselves or local recipient supported by bank encashment certificate showing conversion of foreign remittance to local currency, as under,
a) The remittance for payment of duties and taxes shall originate from the account of Pakistani national sending the vehicle from abroad; and
b) The remittance shall either be received in the account of the Pakistani national sending the vehicle from abroad or, in case, his account is non-existent or inoperative, in the account of his Family:”
Collector Appraisement West Tahir Qureshi, Additional Collector Saad Raza Rabbani, Deputy Collector Ali Raza Naqvi, Principal Appraiser Rasheed Khan, Appraising Officers Nadeen ur Rehman and Farhan Mehdi.
On the directives of Collector Appraisement West Tahir Qureshi and Additional Collector Saad Raza Rabbani, Deputy Collector Ali Raza Naqvi formed a team comprising Principal Appraiser Rasheed Khan, Appraising Officers Nadeen ur Rehman and Farhan Mehdi.
In order to verify the veracity of information, the following PRCs/Encashment Certificate(s) / Credit Advice(s) which were submitted by the customs agents and duly verified by the relevant bank branches were again forwarded to Head Office of concerned banks to verify the contents of verification. In response thereto, Dubai Islamic Bank and United Bank Limited (UBL) confirmed these certificates as “Not Genuine”.
An official said several banks are involved and there was no role of customs in this scam.
Similarly, on the directives of Collector Appraisement East Fayyaz Rasool, Deputy Collector Usman Tariq formed a committee to verify the documents submitted by the agents of vehicle importers, which were also confirmed to be fake.
Collector Appraisement West has lodged three FIRs against a large number of accused while MCC Appraisement East has lodged one FIR in this regard.
The role of bank staff with reference to issuance and verification of fake PRCs/Encashment Certificate(s) / Credit Advice(s) and other facilitators / abettors shall be determined during course of investigation.