KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has sought comments from Customs authorities on a petition of M/s Zafar Azfar and Co, challenging a show-cause notice issued to it for allegedly submitting fake documents to import restricted raw material of bullet proof jackets.
A division bench comprising Justice Junaid Ghaffar and Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro has issued notice to the federal law officer to ensure filing of comments by the Pakistan customs officials by September 28.
Advocate Kelash, who represented the importer, submitted that it imported a consignment of 4,000 bullet proof plates for bullet proof jackets for their supply to security forces. Subsequently, he said, the importer through its clearing agent filed goods declaration for their clearance along with letter from IG Punjab Police for supply of 35,000 bullet proof jackets and No Objection Certificate from the Interior Ministry.
Instead of releasing the goods, the counsel said, the importer was unlawfully issued a show-cause notice on August 21, 2015 for allegedly submitting fake NOC and thus, the consignment was not released. The petitioner requested the court to declare the show-cause notice as illegal and order the customs authorities to release the consignment.
According to the show-cause notice issued by Additional Collector MCC Appraisement-East, M/s Naseem International on behalf of the importer sought clearance of the consignment and presented a letter of IG Punjab Police and NOC obtained from the Interior Ministry.
Both documents were forwarded to respective departments for verification. Punjab police confirmed that the importer was awarded contract for supply of bullet proof jackets. However, the Interior Ministry said the NOC does not match with the record available with it.
The importer was further alleged to have imported two consignments comprising 5,000 and 3,876 bullet proof plates on the same NOC. The matter was sent to the FIA for further investigation.
