KARACHI: MCC Appraisement East has lodged an FIR against M/s RIZ Green Industries and clearing agent M/s Shafaay International for submitting fake documentation to hoodwink the authorities and evade legitimate government revenue.
MCC Appraisement East has also arrested one Waheed Anwar s/o Muhammad Anwar of M/s Shafaay International.
According to details of the case, M/s RIZ Green Industries, declared to be a manufacturer, imported various consignments through their authorized clearing agent M/s Shafaay International containing used Tyres Cut into Pieces under the purported license prima facie issued by Sind Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).
To verify the veracity of documents provided by the importer was forwarded to the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency. SEPA confirmed that they had not issued any approval license in favor of the M/s RIZ Green Industries.
The EPA certificate which was disowned by provincial (SEPA) was uploaded by the importer while filing of GDs in Collectorate of Customs Appraisement-East, Karachi.
The importer had hoodwinked the customs authorities and managed to clear restricted goods i.e. “used tyres cut in to pieces” under fake/forged license.
Sources said Chairman FBR is taking personal interest in this high profile case. Under his directives for efficient investigation and prosecution, MCC West Collector Tahir Qureshi formed a team led by Deputy Collector Faizan Badar, PA Ghulam Yasin, AOs Taha Shaikh, Mohammad Riaz, Abid Sarfaraz, Mujahid Iqbal, Rashid Ali, Mohammad Naeem, Khizar Khurshid.
Similarly, MCC Appraisement East led by Additional Collector Ahsan Khan comprises of Deputy Collector Fareha Afzal, PA Zafar Shabbir, AOs Ghani Soomro, Abdul Saboor, Malik Naeem.
Waheed Anwar of M/s Rafaay International had gotten interim bail pertaining to the FIR lodged by MCC Appraisement West in a similar fraud. He appeared before court of Justice Saad Qureshi for hearing and, was arrested pertaining to the FIR lodged by MCC Appraisement East
The lawyer of Waheed Ahmed reportedly harassed the Customs staff and only focused on the character assassination of Customs staff instead of talking about the merits of the case before the court.
Lawyer representing Customs is Khalid Rajper. They convinced the judge and obtained 5-day remand despite the accused is represented by Khawaja Shamsul Islam.
Sources said Customs has identified Umair Ashraf of M/s SHUFF Logistics freight forwarder as the main accused. Umair Ashraf has obtained bail and claimed that the goods were to be exported to Iran, and mistakenly landed in Pakistan.
It was learnt that on the instructions of Chairman FBR, the ambit of investigation was being expanded to include role of PRAL and WeBOC risk management system in this scam.
An official said the accused must have some arrangement somewhere in the Customs or PRAL, because a consignment worth a billion rupees is not brought without ‘fool proof setting’.