Pakistan's exchequer lost billions due to misdeclaration of imported goods by customs officials

ISLAMABAD: The national exchequer suffered a loss of Rs4 billion due to the intentional misdeclaration of imported goods by some senior high-ranking officials, according to information from a Customs Intelligence report obtained by Geo News.

The misdeclaration — including undervaluation or omission by the way of clearance without duties — was caused by human inspection consequent to what the report alleged was a malfunction in the automated system at various check-posts along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Hence, senior officials had manually cleared at least 110 containers of imported goods, as per the records.

The report said the malfunction was fabricated in order to facilitate the fraud. Little to no amount of duty was paid on these containers.

However, when Customs Intelligence and the Frontier Constabulary conducted an inquiry into the matter, it was discovered that 350 containers, instead of 110, had been cleared via human inspection.

The inquiry further revealed that at the time of clearance at the check-posts, it had been claimed that the containers were carrying onions and had to be cleared quickly as they were perishable items.

The report — sent to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairperson Shabbar Zaidi in December 2019 — noted that while Rs7.2 million per container should have been paid in duties, the amount collected was Rs82,400 each. Zaidi had consequently taken Prime Minister Imran Khan and the PM's finance adviser, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, into confidence over the matter.

Subsequently, a senior member of the FBR and four high-ranking officials were appointed as officers on special duty (OSD) to probe who was responsible for the intentional misdeclaration. On the other hand, the case was transferred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further inquiry.

Action against officers named in report

The News reported on Saturday that after issuing the red flag about mega scandal of the alleged clearance of 350 containers at Torkham border without payment of any penny in shape of duty/taxes in writing, the PTI-led government issued orders for transfer/posting of 13 officials of Customs Group

The Member Customs Operation Jawad Uwais Agha was made OSD with immediate effect. Mr Agha was going to retire from the service on February 24, 2020 after reaching at the age of superannuation.

FBR’s Member (Customs Policy) FBR HQ Javed Ghani (BS-22) has been assigned additional charge of Member Customs (Operations), FBR HQ, Islamabad.

The Member (Customs Operations) FBR, Jawwad Uwais Agha (BS-21) has been transferred and posted as Member FBR (HQ), Islamabad without any assignment. The Collector Preventive Multan, Mohammad Saleem (BS-20) has been transferred as Collector Appraisement Peshawar. The Collector Customs Appeals Karachi Khaleel Ibrahim Yousafani (BS-20) is transferred and posted as Collector Preventive Peshawar.

Collector Gwadar Muhammad Yaqoob Mako (BS-20) is transferred and posted as Collector Customs Preventive Quetta. He will also look after charge of the Collector Gwadar.

Director Directorate of Transit Trade Quetta Irfanur Rehman (BS-20) is transferred and posted as Collector Appraisement Quetta. He will also look after the charge of Directorate of Transit Trade, Quetta. Director, Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation (I&I) Fayyaz Anwar (BS-20) is transferred and posted as Collector Customs Preventive Multan.

The Collector Export Karachi Imtiaz Ahmad Sheikh (BS-20) is transferred and assigned to look after the charge of Customs Export Port Mohammad Bin Qasim Karachi. The Director Customs Intelligence and Investigation Irfan Javed (BS-20) is transferred and assigned to look after the charge of post of Director, Directorate of Customs I&I Gwadar. Collector Customs Preventive Peshawar Asif Saeed Lughmani (BS-20) is transferred and posted as chief FBR (HQ), Islamabad.

Collector Customs Appraisement Peshawar Ihsan Ali Shah (BS-20) is transferred and posted as chief FBR (HQ) FBR, Islamabad.

Collector Customs Preventive Quetta, Iftikhar Ahmad (BS-20) is transferred and posted as chief FBR (HQ), Islamabad. Collector Customs Appraisement Quetta Mr Raza (BS-20) is transferred and posted as chief FBR (HQ), Islamabad.