KARACHI: Majid Yousfani, Collector of Model Customs Collectorate Appraisement East, says that the collectorate en-cashed bank guarantees worth Rs 1.80 billion of the importers of iron, steel and raw materials under the head of regulatory duty after winning different cases from courts. The recovery has been made during the first quarter of the current financial year i.e. 2015-16.
In an exclusive interview with Customs Today, the collector said the federal government imposed regulatory duty on the import of iron, steel and iron raw materials however, the importers approached Lahore High Court and Sindh High Court obtaining stay on the levy while getting cleared their consignments.
“The Lahore High Court gave stay to the iron importer Crescent Steel and Mughal Steel while the same case was contested before the Sindh High Court with para wise replies that resulted the decision in favor of Pakistan Customs to collect the regulatory duty on the import of iron and steel.
After that decision of the Sindh High Court, the importers of iron and steel approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan by their counsel Munir A Malik while the Pakistan Customs was represented by senior lawyer Khurram Raza who restrained customs authorities while taking any coercive measures action the importers, Majid Yousfani added.
With this the importers withdrew the cases and the Pakistan Customs en-cashed some Rs 1.8 billion out of which only Rs 400 million was under recovery phase and it would be recovered very shortly, MCC Appraisement East Collector said.
Furthermore, while talking about the import of 17 containers of substandard wheat from Ukraine, Majid Yousfani said a parliamentary panel recommended to blacklist two flour mills for importing substandard wheat from Ukraine in connivance with customs officials and Pre-Shipment Inspection Agency (PSI) besides banning them from importing any agro-commodity in future.
The sub-committee of the Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research tasked to examine the whole process of substandard wheat imported from Moldova, Ukraine and its clearance by the custom authorities without acquiring the Plant Protection Release Order (PPRO) issued by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, submitted its interim report to the committee, the Collector adds.
The sub-committee during its three separate meetings presided over by its convener Malik Shakir Bashir Awan recommended that responsibility may be fixed on M/s Al-Noor Dall and Flour Mills, Hyderabad and M/s Thara International for spread of Kernal Bunt, Striga, Sumt and quarantine pest in the country.
The committee also instructed Pakistan Customs to comply with the quarantine and Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary (SPS) regulation in cases of import of wheat/food items and avoid release of such items through green channel of the Web Based One Customs (WeBOC) system. Pakistan Customs may not allow any commodity of plant origin without PPRO to protect human health, he went on to say.
According to Majid Yousfani, the committee also recommended that Department of Plant Protection (DDP) may not allow re-export of food items unfit for human consumption in their inspection letter. The DPP should initiate disciplinary proceeding/enquiry against the officers concerned who issued the release order for 17 containers declared unfit for human consumption by H.E.J Laboratory of Karachi University.
It was also recommended that the Ministry of Commerce should not allow re-export of sub-standard wheat and other food items if found harmful for human consumption. The Chief Collector Customs should not allow release of 17 detained containers of wheat fund unfit for human consumption by the H.E.J lab Karachi, the Collector added while quoting findings of the committee.
