KARACHI: An appellate bench of Sindh High Court (SHC) comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed fixed April 25 for hearing a case against well-known gold importer “Tessori”.
The order came in an application moved by Ghulam Hyder Shaikh advocate, counsel for Model Customs Collectorate (MCC East) in which it was maintained that special custom reference is decades old and a huge sum of money in terms of custom duty, taxes is involved. The state coffers are deprived of payment due, the application said. Khalid Javed Khan advocate appearing for the respondent Tessori group opposed the plea.
The counsel for Custom however said that Tessori has entered into a plea bargain with the NAB and thus have admitted the guilt.
He maintained that 2000 tolas of gold was imported and Tessori’s were under obligation to re-export the same in form of jewelry. The SRO applicable says that custom duty is to be collected at a rate of US $ 1 per tola along with other levies applicable besides surcharge for the period starting from year 2003 till the date final payment is made, Ghulam Hyder Shaikh maintained pressing the court to decide the matter soonest.
The bench in view of inordinate delay and huge payable to the government involved said it will hear the case at length on April 25 and will render a decision accordingly.
