KARACHI: The Collectorate of Customs Adjudication-I has served show-cause notice (SCN) to eight wheat importers, who were allegedly involved in defrauding the national exchequer amounting to around Rs 230 million (234,278,489) while taking the advantage of flaws in online clearance system.
According to details, the Model Customs Collectorate MCC Port Muhammad Bin Qasim in the month of January observed that the wheat importers deliberately violated the SRO1015(I)/2014 in importing the wheat without paying Regulatory Duty (RD) at 20 percent ad valorem, which was levied by Government of Pakistan on importation of wheat.
During the scrutiny, the examination officials of MCC Port Muhammad Bin Qasim found that the importers violated the SRO 1050(I)/2014 on importing wheat and did not pay Regulatory Duty amounting to Rs 230 million.
Subsequently, the authorities concerned of MCC Port Muhammad Bin Qasim registered FIRs against the alleged importers and sent the case further to the adjudicating authorities for legal proceedings.
Reacting upon the FIRs, the Collectorate of Customs Adjudication-I has served show-cause notices to eight wheat importers including Al-Hamza, Blessed Enterprises, Garibsons, Hasan Ali Rice, M M Flour, Masoom Flour, Meskay Trading and Pacific Trading.
In the FIRs, the MCC Port Muhammad Bin Qasim stated that the Al-Hamza tried to evade duty/taxes amounting to Rs 28.6 million; Blessed Enterprises amounting to Rs29 million; Garibsons amounting to Rs 54.6 million; Hasan Ali Rice tried to evade duty/taxes amounting to Rs28 million; M M Flour amounting to Rs 28.5 million; Masoom Flour amounting to Rs28.5million; Meskay Trading amounting to Rs 57.1 million and Pacific Trading tried to evade taxes amounting to Rs 28.5 million.
In the light of the said information, the Collectorate of Customs Adjudication-I has issued show-cause notices against eight importers in order to clear their stance over the allegations leveled against them.
The Collector of Customs Adjudication-I Dr Farid Iqbal Qureshi has summoned the importers on March 19, 2015 for hearing their view point into the case.
