KARACHI: The Customs Court approved interim pre-arrest bail to suspect namely Muhammad Saqib Butt son of Amanullah Butt and Ali Aslam son of M. Aslan, directors of M/s Ali & Company against the surety of Rs200,000 , who were nominated in a case for mis-declaration and concealment of actual description, specifications and constituent material to deceive application of correct assessable value.
On 16 January 2021, above mentioned accused appeared before the court along with their counsel who moved pre-arrest bail applications and argued that their clients are innocents and have been falsely implicated in this case, who were ready to face trail, therefore, court may grant their bail till final judgment in this case.
After the hearing, court observed in its order that without examining the contents of the FIR, the above named applicants/ accused are granted ad-interim pre-arrest bail subject to furnishing their solvent surety in the sum of Rs. 200,000 each with P.R bond in the like amount to the satisfaction of this court, the applicants are also directed to join investigation if and when required by the investigation officer of the case.
Court also issued notice to special prosecutor customs and calls police papers for next date of hearing.
Earlier, Investigation officer of Model Customs Collectorate Appraisement & Facilitation Port Muhammad Bin Qasim Karachi has submitted first information report (FIR) against owner/ partners of M/s Ali & Company and others and informs the court that M/s Ali & Company electronically filed goods declaration through their clearing agent M/s Jazee International for the import of consignment declared to contain NGK brand spark plugs for 4 wheelers of Japan Origin, beside other items, at a declared invoices value US$ 102, 881.63.
He further submitted that the importer determined his liability of payment of applicable duties & taxes and sought clearance under section 79(I) of the customs act, 1969. The goods declaration was selected through the system for examination, on examination the declared description and part number were verified and spark plugs for four wheelers were assessed on available evaluation ruling which was meant for non-iridium carbon tips spark plugs for Japan Origin.
Investigation officer further submitted that during the investigation, it was established that the above-mentioned importer with active connivance of his clearing agent has mis-declared the description by not declaring the correct information regarding constituent material of spark plugs tip aiming to defraud the national exchequer of its legitimate revenue to the tune of Rs. 15, 260, 014 willfully and with malafide intention on account of customs duty and other taxes.
