KARACHI: The authorities concerned of the Federal Board of Revenue and Customs Department are keep mum over the irregularities and anomalies being continued by Appraising Officer Muhammad Zubair, Deputy Collector Athar Naveed and their nexus by knowingly discouraging legal trade at Port Qasim.
Sources informed Customs Today that evidence of malpractices of these customs officials namely AO Muhammad Zubair and DC Athar Naveed have already been provided to the high-ups of the FBR and customs authorities, but no action has been taken so far in this regard.
The sources while providing evidence of their illegal activities stated that those customs officials through a goods declaration (GD) KPPI-HC-56190-HC-07-05-2015 cleared around 25-tonne consignment of Turkish diapers by declaring the consignment as that of China origin.
The sources further revealed that those customs officials in another case pertaining to GD No KPPI-HC-16045-HC-08-10-2013 assessed 8-tonne consignment of 20 feet as that of 38 tonnes and also conducted multiple re-examinations and re-assessments, which also compelled the importer to pay demurrage and detention charges, as those officials took 45 days to clear the consignment and more surprisingly, those customs officials at last cleared the GD on its assessed value of 8 tonnes, which means that they hoodwinked the importer for 45 days by stating that their consignment weighed 38 tonnes.
The sources informed that this modus operandi of those customs officials is an attempt to stop legal trade with the connivance of smugglers’ network, adding that Rs 1.019 trillion had been lost to such smuggling activities, while no investigation has yet been initiated against those customs officials despite the fact that primary evidences have already being highlighted by the media.
The sources further alleged that those customs officials are also involved in delaying legal trade of hundreds of bona-fide importers so as to promote smuggling economy.
When Customs Today tried to contact customs high-ups for their version, they avoid giving comments before the media and said that Deputy Collector Athar Naveed is an honest, competent and skilled officer of the Customs Department.
