KARACHI: The importers and their representatives are now in the line of fire during the process of assessment by the Customs authorities especially Principal Appraiser Tariq Aziz and Appraiser Zubair at MCC-Port Qasim.
The importers informed Customs Today that the corruption is rampant at Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Port Qasim in the process of assessment.
According to confirmed information given by some cadres of importers, Principal Appraiser of Group-VII Tariq Aziz is openly demanding bribe from the importers in assessing their consignments, and upon refusing he assessed the consignments at higher value without any evidence.
One of the importers while sharing his views with Customs Today said that principal appraiser of Group-VII Tariq Aziz was openly asking for Rs0.1 million as bribe from him in order to clear his consignments and upon refusing to do so, the principal appraiser assessed the consignments at higher value.
The importers were of the view that the Customs officials at MCC-Port Qasim adopted an unjustified assessment method to achieve the revenue targets assigned by the Collectorate.
“The principal appraiser of Group-VII has assessed the value of goods at US$1.25 without applying origin discount, as the goods were imported from China, but the Customs official assessed it at the United Kingdom (UK) rate”, he added.
The importer on condition of anonymity further informed this scribe that the stubborn attitude of the principal appraiser Tariq Aziz and appraiser Zubair of MCC-Port Qasim caused difficulties for the importers as well as tarnished the image of Pakistan Customs Department.
He further alleged that the principal appraiser told him that he was enjoying the support of deputy collector of Group-VII and without his consent the consignment would not be cleared, otherwise, the importer should have to please him and his immediate high-ups.
Customs officials of MCC-Port Qasim assessed the values of imported items at higher side which on one hand, increased the cost of doing business while on the other hand affected the trade activities.
The importers also told that DC Athar Naveed also did not address their grievances being the head of the PA and Appraiser. Besides, he is always engaged in eating breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks or taking nap in his office and importers wait outside for 3-4 days to report this matter. Importers did not confirm about the corruption of the DC as he just neglected his duties being the supervisor.
When this scribe tried to contact Additional Collector Group VII Saeed Akram several times for taking his view point on the current situation, but he was not available for comment.
When contacted, Collector-MCC Appraisement (West) Muhammad Saleem said that the authorities concerned of the Collectorate are keeping every legal aspect into mind while making assessment of the imported consignments.
The importers appealed to Collector-MCC Port Muhammad Bin Qasim Surriya Butt to take notice of the corrupt elements of the Collectorate, so that the image of the Collectorate could be improved.
