KARACHI: The MCC Appraisement East has lodged another six FIRs against the directors of M/s AMI Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd and several other importers and clearing agents in the switch Bill of Lading case.
Sources said that the import data was being scrutinized and Master Bills of Lading were being confirmed with the shipping lines and it is expected that hundreds of more switch bills of loading cases would be identified.
It may be recalled that MCC Appraisement West and MCC Appraisement East have already lodged dozens of FIRs against M/s AMI Pvt Ltd while Directorate of Intelligence & Investigation – Customs has also lodged one FIR.
M/s AMI Pakistan and its directors are accused of fraudulent manifestation of import consignments to circumvent several provisions and availing inadmissible benefits.
In these fresh FIRs, directors of M/s AMI Pakistan have been nominated along with Abdul Ghaffar of M/s G&S Manufacturer, Saqib Aziz of M/s Rehbar Enterprises, Jamaluddin, Shahrukh Jamal and Sharjeel Jamal of M/s S.S.J Brothers; Jamaluddin, Shahrukh Jamal and Sharjeel Jamal of M/s S.S.J Brothers SMC Pvt Ltd, Shahzad of M/s Shezad Brothers, partners of M/s Morriswala & Company, Mohammad Shakil of M/s Talha Trading and Ibad-ur-Rehman of M/s United Chemical Corporation.
All of the above accused have been booked for importing banned Indian fabric through mis-declaration of port of origin and port of loading as China instead of actual Dubai to circumvent the provisions of Import Policy. However, partners of M/s Morriswala brought the consignment of electronics in the similar manner.
During the course of investigations and for the sake of justice, Collectors of MCC Appraisement West Dr. Agha Jawwad and MCC Appraisement East Majid Yousafani filed an application before the Court seeking permission to involve directors of M/s AMI Pakistan into the investigations. It may be recalled that M/s AMI Pakistan had put all blame on their import manager claiming that the employee was doing the mis-declaration and manipulation in the IGM on his own and without the knowledge of directors and senior management of the company. The scam was going on for several years.
However, Collectors of Appraisement West and East were willing to bring the actual culprits to justice and sought court’s permission to involve directors of M/s AMI Pakistan in the investigation. M/s AMI Pakistan is a Marine Group company.
However, following this development, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) came under severe pressure.
Collector MCC Appraisement West Dr. Owais Agha Jawwad has been transferred to the office of Director Internal Audit Customs Karachi. Dr. Jawwad is investigating a high profile case of switch bills of lading wherein M/s AMI Pakistan Pvt Ltd imported numerous consignments of banned products through mis-declaring port of origin of goods and port of shipment to circumvent certain provisions of the import policy order. It may be mentioned here that M/s AMI Pakistan is the part of Marine Group of Companies.
It is more interesting to note that no officer has been properly assigned the office of Collector MCC Appraisement West and Dr. Fareed Iqbal Qureshi Director of Reforms and Automation Karachi has been given additional charge of Collector MCC Appraisement West.
Collector MCC Appraisement East Majid Yousafani has been transferred to the post of Chief FBR (Hqrs) Islamabad and Director Post Clearance Audit Islamabad Ashhad Jawwad is posted as Collector MCC Appraisement East.
Majid Yousafanihad also made significant progress in the switch bill of lading case and over a dozen FIRs were lodged against M/s AMI Pakistan by MCC Appraisement East.