Officials allegedly involved in customs fraud yet to be caught

CHAUTARA, APR 03 -

The government officials who allegedly helped traders to evade customs duty by undervaluing imported goods that led to 19 trucks being impounded two weeks ago have not been apprehended.

The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) has collected an extra Rs 13.6 million in customs duty which the traders had avoided paying by falsifying customs documents for goods imported from China. A concerned source said that efforts were being made to protect revenue staff of the Finance Ministry despite their involvement in the fraud.

“We wrote to the Department of Customs and sent a probe report three-four days ago,” said DRI director general Janmajaya Regmi. However, the Customs Department’s deputy director general Toyam Raya said that they had not received any such letter. The District Police Office Kavre and the District Police Office Sindhupalchok had detained the containers after receiving a tip-off. The revenue staff had informed finance secretary Shanta Raj Subedi after it was found that the imported goods had been heavily undervalued.

According to the revenue personnel, shoes worth US$ 5 per pair had been valued at 70 cents, and trekking boots had been categorised as baby shoes and priced less than their real value. The staff found that the product codes of some goods had been falsified too.

After the fraud attempt was revealed, the importers were made to pay Rs 7.8 million in VAT and an additional Rs 4.2 million for the undervalued goods. Likewise, the DRI collected Rs 2.8 million in evaded tax and another Rs 1 million as fine. This is the largest amount that tax evaders at Tatopani Customs have been made to pay in three years.

Meanwhile, the identities of the officers involved in signing the letter of credit and those who checked the goods have been kept a secret. Sources claimed that communication with the Customs Department had been deliberately delayed to protect the customs staff involved in the irregularities.

In a similar case last February, the report sent to the Customs Department was stolen to save the customs officials. At that time, a container carrying textiles had been impounded when computer parts were found hidden inside the bolts of cloth.

“We have received no official letter from the Revenue Department regarding the recent case. We will penalize our staff if they are found guilty,” said Mukti Narayan Poudel, director general of the Department of Customs.

Source: The Kathmandu Post