PESHAWAR: The corruption at the Peshawar Dry Port has caused the customs exchequer a big loss at a time when it needed to generate more revenue.
The clearance of illegal consignments is a serious crime for which the officers along with the customs staff need to be held accountable, said Peshawar Tax Bar lawyers while commenting on the scandal of clearing illegal consignments at the Peshawar Dry Port.
The customs principal appraisers and superintendents allowed clearance of 701 illegal consignments in which 488 consignments belong to M/s Jan Builder while other one consignments’ owners have not been identified yet.
On the other hand, the customs authorities denied giving comments on the case due to personal relationship with Deputy Athar Naveed who is very influential customs officer at the Customs House Peshawar.
When inquiry inspectors were asked about the appraisers and superintendents who had been accused by the National Accountability Bureau for corruption of more than Rs nine billion, they said it is merely their individual act for which they must be awarded a proper punishment.
The investigation conducted revealed that Deputy Collector Athar Naveed is responsible for irregularity done by appraisers with the mutual gambling with other customs officers at the Dry Port Peshawar. To benefit themselves and the importer, they have caused customs exchequer a very big loss. Such practices bring defamation to the Customs Department and hurt the sentiments of the business community.
The scam of clearing machinery older than five years was imported by a Karachi based importer and was illegally cleared at the Dry Port Peshawar. The machinery was imported from a foreign based export company through Qasim Seaport and transported all the way to the Dry Port Peshawar for clearance.
Investigation against this scam started in 2016 and inquiry was submitted to the adjunction authorities at the Customs House Peshawar. The adjunction authorities forwarded the inquiry to the NAB which was converted into investigation.
Deputy Collector Athar Naveed got a stay order on the inquiry to be converted into the investigation as Deputy Collector wanted to cover the scandal.
If corruption at the Dry Port Peshawar is not stopped then it will cause very low collection of revenue and affect the revenue generation of the Customs House Peshawar.
