NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday registered a case against Inland Container Depot (ICD) Customs Commissioner and his deputy for allegedly favouring a businessman in the release of custom duty drawback, causing a loss of about Rs.75 crore.
The accused businessman, Sahdev Gupta, had shown export of garments worth Rs.8,000 crore to some companies in Hong Kong and Dubai and on that basis he claimed a refund of Rs.300 crore as duty drawback under the Customs Act.
The government extends relief to encourage exports through the provision.
The CBI suspects that either the garments were over invoiced to claim more duty drawback or money was being round-tripped.
Among those named in the case are Customs Commissioner Atul Dixit and Deputy Commissioner Nalin Kumar, who are currently with the Tughlakabad ICD. “The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is already investigating Mr. Gupta’s role in allegedly showing fake exports of garments to companies in Hong Kong and Dubai during 2013-14, through ICDs in Tughlakabad and Patparganj,” said the official, adding that the accused is one of the owners of a large chain of educational institutions in and around Delhi.
When contacted, the companies told the DRI that they had not received any such consignment from the firm being run Mr. Gupta, raising suspicion that something was amiss.
“The DRI then requested the Customs to not to release duty drawback to the accused. However, it is alleged that the ICD Commissioner and his deputy deliberately delayed the implementation, thereby allowing Mr. Gupta to receive a refund of Rs.74.61 crore,” said the official.
After registering the case, the agency conducted searches on the premises of the accused persons in Delhi, Gurgaon and Greater Noida.
