MULTAN: A few corrupt officials in the customs department are big hurdle in execution of appropriate customs laws to prevent smuggling through green channel. Customs authorities should adopt effective measures by following standard rules and principles to avoid misuse of green Channel.
These views were expressed by renowned lawyer Malik Tariq Saeed during his exclusive interview with Customs Today. He said that green channel facility was introduced for genuine importers and exporters for smooth clearance of their shipments without any trouble but it has been revealed that smugglers are abusing green channel facility due to weak enforcement of customs department and a few corrupt officials have also allowed smugglers to adopt green channel for clearance of contraband items and other goods.
It is regrettable that a few corrupt customs officials are involved in unscrupulous activities at Port Qasim and they are allowing smugglers to throw their smuggled goods in the markets after getting clearance through green channel.
He added that customs department should fulfill their appropriate procedure for green channel declarations in clearance procedure. Customs laws are comprehensive to prevent any sort of smuggling and it is need of the hour to meet basic requirements of the inspection in order to detect violations of green channel facility in the clearance.
He said risk management department of customs should bring reforms in their systems by adopting modern techniques for examination if they feel that existing laws are insufficient to prevent smuggling. Customs officials have been found involved in misuse of green channel facility most of the time as they give opportunity to smugglers for the sake of bribe.
Presently, some mechanisms and policies are consistent and compatible with customs supervision which gave opportunity to corrupt officials to misuse green channel. Abuse of green channel facility discourages genuine importers in the country as they are unable to compete price difference in the market, he added.
He said that we should amend procedure for the classification channels to protect violation and ensure strict customs inspection and control process. Customs department needs to specify new methods for information sharing, providing and updating the system to prevent violations of green channel.
He recommended that customs officers in charge of risk management do not have sufficient information to realize methods and tricks of smugglers for preparing plans in developing criteria of channel classification for inspection. Customs staff should be given capacity building training to overcome abuse of green channel.
