KARACHI: Quetta Customs has booked certain importers and foreign pre-shipment inspection (PSI) companies including M/s Bureau Veritas of UAE and M/s SGS China for defrauding Pakistan’s authorities to enable clearance of trucks older than five years. Import Policy Order 2016 restricts import of trucks older than five years.
M/s. Al Habib Enterprises & Engineering, Quetta imported Used Hino Prime Movers of Japanese origin from UAE via Karachi Port to NLC Dry Port, Quetta and M/s Zarif Khan Hussain Zai & Brothers imported used Hino Concrete Transit Mixers from China via Karachi Port to NLC Dry Port, Quetta under transshipment.
The said importers filed GDs on WeBOC and submitted Pre-shipment Inspection Certificates issued by M/s Bureau Veritas, UAE and SGS China certifying the age of imported machines not older than five years and Euro-II emission compliant as required under Import Policy Order, 2016.
However, certification to the extent of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the vehicles have not been certified by the said Pre-shipment Companies. At the time of filing of GDs in WeBOC, partial amount of duty and taxes, self assessed by the importer amounting to Rs. 4.79 million have been paid. However, after due process of examination through WeBOC, the total leviable duty and taxes comes to Rs10.914 million.
On the directives of Collector Saeed Jadoon, Deputy Collector Shah Faisal opted to to verify the exact year of manufacturing of the vehicle, and the matter was referred to M/s Hinopak Motors Limited Pakistan Karachi – the manufacturer’s representative – for verification. It was confirmed that the vehicles were way older than five years.
As such, On the basis of said procured information, it has become evident that the used Hino Prime Movers and Hino Concrete Transit Mixers in connivance with the aforesaid PSI Company have been imported by misdeclaring the year of manufacture as 2012 for their illegal import into the country.
An FIR has been lodged against the importers and Pre-Shipment Inspection companies of UAE and China. Preliminary investigations found that around 35 vehicles had been imported and cleared illegally on the basis of fraudulent PSI certificates provided by such companies. These vehicles already cleared were imported by M/s Al Habib Enterprises, M/s FFK & Construction Company and M/s Khan Gul Government Contractors.
It may be recalled that there is a certain cartel involved in importing trucks older than five years and recently MCC Port Qasim seized eight such vehicles and served contravention reports while truck cleared on undertaking by MCC Appraisement East have not been recovered.
