— Seized vehicle is registered under name of former Bulgarian envoy
By Daniyal Ahmad
LAHORE: The Bentley Mulsanne seized by Collectorate of Customs Enforcement (CCE) Karachi bearing number plate BRS-279 was registered in May 2020 under the name of Bulgarian Ambassador to Pakistan, H.E Aleksandar Borisov Parashkevov.
Parashkevov was recalled in 2020 on alleged claims of having leveraged privileges available under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to import and then sell a Bentley Mulsanne to a recipient in Pakistan without paying the requisite duties levied on it by Pakistan Customs, for a fee.
Pakistan Customs had attempted to seize the very same vehicle in the past when they had discovered it to be in use in Karachi by Navaid Yamin (one of the accused in the first information report). Navaid filed a suit against Pakistan’s customs and the Bulgarian Embassy intervened in the incident.
The Bulgarian embassy wrote to the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They stated that Navaid Yamin was the “service staff of the mission since 2019 in terms of Act IX of 1972 Diplomatic and Consular Privileges Act, 1972. He [Yamin] is providing all kinds of services to our mission at Islamabad including but not limited to importation of Diplomatic Goods from abroad and is rendering such services at our mission”.
The embassy further highlighted that Yamin was authorized to utilize the Mulsanne due to his service staff status. The embassy had emphasized to Pakistan Customs that the car was for Yamin’s personal use, and that it had not been sold to him by the Embassy. The case was subsequently closed by Pakistan Customs as it was deemed beyond their jurisdiction until the developments this past weekend.
