KARACHI: Keeping in line with the directions of Member-Customs Operations, Federal Board of Revenue and the Chief Collector of Customs Appraisement South, Karachi to curb the menace of misdeclarations and submission of fake documents for the clearance of old & used vehicles under Personal Baggage (PB) scheme, the Collectorate of Customs, Appraisement (West), Karachi tightened the controls and kept extra vigilance on the clearance of vehicles. In this regard, Car Group of the Collectorate was directed for scrutinize the documents submitted for the clearance of old & used vehicles.
Brief facts of the case are that a credible information was received by the Collector of Customs Appraisement West that some unscrupulous elements are engaged in clearance of vehicles against submission of fake Proceed Realization Certificates (PRCs)/ Encashment Certificates and their subsequent verifications from concerned bank.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Ministry of Commerce inserted certain legal requirements vide Appendix-E of the Import Policy Order-2020 notified vide SRO 52(I)/2019 dated 15.01.2019 to be fulfilled for the import of old/used vehicles by Overseas Pakistanis availing baggage/transfer of residence and gift schemes. As per para 3(6) of Appendix-E of Import Policy Order 2020 reproduced below verbatim:-
“All vehicles in new/used condition to be imported under transfer of residence, personal baggage or under gift scheme, the duty and taxes shall be paid out of foreign exchange arranged by Pakistan Nationals themselves or local recipient supported by bank encashment certificate showing conversion of foreign remittance to local currency, as under,
- a) The remittance for payment of duties and taxes shall originate from the account of Pakistani national sending the vehicle from abroad; and
- b) The remittance shall either be received in the account of the Pakistani national sending the vehicle from abroad or, in case, his account is non-existent or inoperative, in the account of his Family:”
In order to verify the veracity of information, the selected PRCs which were submitted by the customs agents and duly verified by the relevant bank branches were again forwarded to Head Office of the concerned banks to verify the contents of verification letters. In response thereto, the head offices of the concerned banks confirmed that PRCs were not issued and are “FAKE”. The above facts and preliminary inquiry into the matter has revealed that accused importers in connivance with representative / proprietor of customs agents and others, involved in abetting, facilitating and association in preparing fake PRCs and their subsequent verification letters are involved in the clearance of vehicles on fake documents.
The relevant record i.e. original PRCs, letters submitted by customs agents for verification, earlier verification replies of banks, verification replies of head office of banks were seized. The used vehicles including one Nissan Clipper, one Toyota Vitz, one Toyota Passo and two Suzuki Every Vans were also seized The market value of the seized vehicles is approximately Rs. 10 million.
The role of bank staff with reference to issuance and verification of fake PRCs / Encashment Certificate and other facilitators / abettors shall be determined during the course of investigation.
FIR is lodged for in depth investigation into the matter. Efforts are being made to arrest the accused persons.
