KARACHI: Another Order-in Original (ONO) against M/s Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL), its clearing agent M/s Eastern Freighter Services and M/s Huawei Technologies Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd in alleged tax evasion to the tune of Rs116,228,110 on import of telecommunication equipments through mis-declaration and concealment of actual CFR/import value of goods.
The Collector of the Collectorate of Customs Adjudication-I has also imposed a penalty of Rs 1 million each on M/s Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) and M/s Huawei Technologies Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd while a penalty of Rs 200000 has also been imposed on M/s Eastern Freighter Service under Clause 14 of the Section 156(I) of the Customs Act, 1969.
As per the details, the case was constituted by the Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation-FBR, Karachi on 28-03-2014 and after three hearings conducted by the Collector of Customs Adjudication-I on 10-04-2014, 25-04-2014 and 21-08-2014, the ONO has been issued to the respondents.
The brief facts of the case are reported by the Directorate General of Customs I&I-FBR, Karachi vide its Contravention Report No. Appg-573/DCI/PTCL/2014 that a credible information was received in the Directorate General, I&I-FBR Karachi that M/s Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) in collusion with their foreign supplier M/s Huawei International (Pvt) Ltd, Singapore, their local contractor M/s Huawei Technologies Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd and their clearing agent M/s Eastern Freighter Services were involved in huge evasion of customs duty and other taxes on import of telecommunication equipments and spare parts etc, under contract No. PROC, 3-4/4/290413/0796 meant for supply, installation, up-gradation, integration, testing and commissioning of 100 LTE BTSS (Huawei) Phase-I Project through mis-declaration and concealment of actual CFR/import value of goods.
The Collector of Collectorate of Customs Adjudication-I in his judgment stated that it was held that M/s PTCL in collusion with their local contractors M/s Huawei Technologies, foreign supplier M.s Huawei Singapore and clearing agent M/s Eastern Freighter Services mis-declared the actual value of subject consignment as Rs10,151,947 against the actual CFR value of Rs1088792360, suppressing thereby an amount of Rs1,078,640,674 at 99 per cent of the actual value and thus committed an offence under Section 32(1) &(2) with Sections 79 and 80 of the Customs Act, 1969; read further with Section 148 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2011; punishable under Clause (14) of Section 156(1) of the Customs Act, 1969.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Collectorate of Customs Adjudication-I had already issued an ONO against M/s PTCL and its contractor M/s Huawei Technologies and clearing agent M/s Eastern Services in the alleged involvement in tax evasion through concealing actual import value of the imported goods in the middle of this current year.
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