KARACHI: Rubina Begum, Muhammad Abdullah, partners of M/s Cosmos Trading Development approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) against lodging five first information reports (FIRs) for smuggling of the impugned goods to KEPZ, evasion of legitimate government revenue through deliberate mis-declaration of the iron steel sheets in coils, submission of tampered and fabricated false documents, availing of undue exemption of duties and taxes and illegal & un-authorized filing of GD with customs on the basis of fake & fabricated signatures of the concerned clearing agent.
On October 24, 2019, counsel for the petitioners filed constitutional petition and argued that Intelligence and Investigation-FBR has lodged FIRs against proprietor/ owners/ partners of M/s Integra Trading Company, owners/ directors/ partners of M/s Steel Vision, owners/ directors/ partners of M/s Baluchistan Engineering Works, Muhammad Abdullah, owner/ partner of M/s Cosmos Trading Development and other owners/ partners of M/s Cosmos Trading Development and evading the duties and taxes in the tune of Rs14,941,078.
Counsel argued that each and every aspect of the impugned FIRs reeks of mala fide and illegalities of customs officials who have failed to do anything as regards the parties existing consignments have tried to take their anger out against the second petitioner by nominating for all practical purposes, his mother, the first petitioner, in the impugned FIRs under the garb of other owner/directors of the clearing agent, without, however, attributing and or ascribing to her role whatsoever.
He stated that no case for smuggling, mis-declaration, fiscal fraud, far less that of foreign exchanges’ flight, having been made out in the impugned FIRs which have been registered illegally and in a without-jurisdiction manner, the customs officials mal-fides are obvious from the fact that the alleged wrong doings of the concerned parties were not even mentioned during the course of the earlier litigation.
Citing secretary revenue division, Collector of Customs Preventive, Director I&I Customs, Dost Muhammad appraiser-SIU, Waqar Ahmed Surahio, IO- SIU, DG I&I-Customs, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, appraiser SIU, DG I&I-Customs as respondents, petitioner pleaded the court may quash/ strike-down registered five FIRs against the petitioners and restrain them from taking any coercive action against them.
