KARACHI: Collectorate of Customs Appraisement West has registered 10 FIRs against several importers for misusing WeBOC and PSW system to avail unauthorized “open account” mode of import transaction in the Goods Declaration (GDs) to avert mandatory Financial Instrument (FI)/ Electronic Import Forms (EIFs) requirement for remittance against import consignment.
The accused importers include M/s Maqsood Steel, M/s Ahmed Noor Steel, M/s Asif Steel, M/s Al-Barka Steel, M/s Haroon Brothers Steel, M/s Waqas Steel, M/s Sinco Steel etc; and Customs agents including M/s Global International, M/s Cargo Kings, M/s Ashad Impex and M/s Rafi Enterprise.
Sources told Customs Today that credible information was passed through Collector Appraisement West Muhammad Irfan Wahid to Additional Collector Javed Sarwar Sheikh regarding mis-use of “Open Account” mode of payment by manipulating WeBOC/PSW system.
Deputy Collector Jawad-Ul-Hassan constituted a team comprising Principal Appraiser Amjad Iqbal, Appraising Officer Mujahid Iqbal, and Zia Ur Rehman, which examine the data of clearance under open account received from WeBOC and PSW teams. It was known that certain importers have bypassed the standard procedure for filing of Goods Declaration by circumventing the inbuilt validation checks in the WeBOC system and managed to file GDs without the mandatory EIF/FI or proper authorization for open account mode of transaction in the system.
Customs Appraisement West Karachi has lodged 10 FIRs against ten importers. 4 main clearing agents were identified to have succeeded in manipulating system by filing GDs with Open Account without proper authorisation to importers from ADs.
