KARACHI: Custom Court Judge Faiz Rasool Rashdi granted bail to accused Syed Khalid Ahmed, who was involved in tax evasion, against the surety bonds of Rs 2 million.
During the hearing, the counsel for the state argued that prosecution received information that some unscrupulous importers of Export Processing Zone, on behalf of various investors and Customs House agents, were importing goods to the tariff area fraudulently reducing assessed duty and taxes at the time of issuance of cash number and then depositing short/less amount in banks and the accused were also involved in tax evasion case.
However, the counsel for the accused submitted that accused is innocent and has falsely been implicated in this case. ”Applicant is neither importer nor clearing agent and such has no concern with the alleged offense of evasion of customs duty and taxes,” the applicant’s counsel added.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, the court granted the bail to accused and observed that “The role of applicant is that he simply provided photocopies of the documents including sales tax and NTN certificate to the clearing agent from filing g goods declaration at EPZ on behalf of various importers for clearance of the consignment”. The case was registered by Model Customs Collectorate of exports, Karachi.
