ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has confiscated 3,363 non-customs paid or smuggled vehicles in Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta during last four years.
It was revealed during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance. A Customs official briefed the committee that during last four years 3,363 vehicles were confiscated in Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi by the Custom authorities, out of which around 3,100 vehicles had been disposed of. Out of the confiscated vehicles, 2150 vehicles were seized in Quetta, 1026 from Peshawar and 187 in Karachi.
It was informed that the FBR ensures the process of auction of the vehicles very quick and transparent.
The meeting was held here under the chairmanship of Senator Saleem H Mandviwala, while it was attended by Senators Mohsin Aziz, Kamil Ali Agha, Nasreen Jalil, Ilyah Bilour, and officials from the concerned departments.
The committee also recommended the government for clearing 10,600 imported vehicles stuck up at the Karachi Port with immediate effect.
Mandviwalla said he was receiving complaints that the FBR’s Customs officials were not clearing imported vehicles and now the number of stuck up vehicles had gone up to 10,600.
Zahid Kokhar told the committee that Ministry of Commerce brought changes through notification binding that importer of vehicle will have to open a foreign currency account in the country of origin that had created stumbling block as all stuck up vehicle could not be cleared in the presence of such conditions. The FBR took up the issue with the Ministry of Commerce, which decided to clear vehicles where the bill of entry filed up to Feb 6, 2018.
However, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet endorsed the FBR version and Ministry of Commerce was asked to withdraw the notification. The Ministry of Commerce, Member Customs said, has not yet withdrawn its notification arguing that they were awaiting endorsement of the Federal Cabinet. “We expect that the federal cabinet will grant its approval today as its going to meet with PM in the chair,” he added.
Senator Kamil Ali Agha said that it was high-handedness demonstrated by the Ministry of Commerce in order to please the influential car manufacturers in Pakistan as they wanted to curtail imports of cars. The committee members were of the view that the local manufacturers were getting ‘own’ of Rs 400,000 on immediate delivery otherwise they were giving time of delivery of car of over six months.
