ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has dismissed from services three Customs inspectors of Islamabad, who deliberately cleared high-value imported items including mobile phones, wristwatches, and cosmetics, involving nearly Rs 7 billion, under cover of helicopter parts imported under the name of Agha Khan Foundation.
The FBR issued three notifications on Friday to punish the involved officers in the scam. According to the notifications, the FBR has dismissed Aziz-Ur Rehman, Customs Inspector; Usman Ali, Customs Inspector and Sehrish Nazir, Customs Inspector.
The Customs clearing agents in connivance with the said customs inspectors committed revenue loss to the tune of around Rs. 7 billion to the national exchequer. The outdated/manual One-Customs Clearance system was used to clear the imported consignments that were required to be cleared through the automated WEBOC system.
Brief facts are that the Directorate of Intelligence & Investigation-Customs, Rawalpindi raided the Air Freight Unit (AFU) of the Collectorate of Customs, Islamabad, and seized a consignment consisting of high-value items such as smartphones, wristwatches, wristbands, cosmetics, and other miscellaneous imported goods.
The then Collector of Customs, Islamabad ordered a Fact-Finding Inquiry. The Fact-Finding Report established that apart from the one consignment seized by the Directorate of I&I, there were Eighty (80) other Goods Declarations (GDs) which had already been cleared during the financial year 2019-2020 in the name of Agha Khan Foundation and declared as “Helicopter Parts” without payment of duty and taxes.
When approached by the Collectorate, the Agha Khan Foundation stated in writing that it had not imported the said consignments and that the Clearing Agent had misused the foundation’s name. The Clearing Agent managed to bypass a number of standard operating procedures in the clearance of goods and had them gated out with the connivance of the accused and others without payment of duty and taxes to the tune of Rs. 6.797 billion and Rs. 152.548 million.
The Adjudicating Authority in this case also observed that the scam could not have occurred without the involvement of Customs Officials. Furthermore, Customs Appellate Tribunal Bench-1, Islamabad, vide two separate decisions dated 15-06-2023 has upheld the decision by the Adjudicating Authority.
