KARACHI: Customs Court Judge Syed Faiz Rasool Rashdi has framed charges against nine suspects who were booked in four cases of NATO/ISAF mega scam and also they were accused of evading taxes and duty worth billions of rupees.
During the hearing, the alleged suspects, Syed Arshad Ali, Mehfooz Ali Khan, Fareh Shaukat, Shaukat Hussain, Muhammad Yasin, Sardar Amin Farooqui, Noor Akbar Mahar, Shahid Rauf and Saeed Babar, appeared before the court along with their counsels.
The court framed the charges against them. The charge sheet says: “On August 24, 2011, the staff of the Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation reported the matter through probe committee of the FBR, Islamabad. The suspects, including both clearing agents and customs officials, in connivance with each other, got the consignments cleared. The consignments worth of billions of rupees belonged to Afghan importers and were meant for transit to Afghanistan from customs ports. The goods were allegedly smuggled back to Pakistan and evaded the duty and taxes to the tune of billions of rupees. They all committed offence punishable under section 156 (1) (8) (14) (14A) (8) (82) of the customs act, 1969.”
The charges were read and explained to the accused persons in the language which they would understand very well viz Urdu and they were asked if they want to plead guilty to the charges or claim to be tried, but they all pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. After framing the charges, the court adjourned the hearing for further proceedings.
According to the prosecution, cases were registered against them under section 2(s) 16, 32 (1) 32, 121, 127, 128, 129, 209 punishable under clauses 8,14, 14A, 43, 47, 63, 64, 81, 82 & 86 of sub section (1) of section 156 read with chapter VIII (clearing agent licensing rules) of the customs rules 2001, instructions issued by the board and Collectorate from time to time, import policy and procedure order, 2010-11 and section 3 (1) of the Import & Exports (Control) Act 1950.
