National kitty facing loss due to paper import under-invoicing

The national exchequer is facing loss of millions of rupees on account of misdeclaration of weight of imported paper and board consignments and under-invoicing in connivance with the customs officials as well as clearing agents.
The sources in local paper market told Business Recorder here on Wednesday that some of the importers of paper and board used to mis-declare the weight up to 15 to 16 tonnes, loaded in a 40-feet container, instead of actual capacity weight of 26-27 tonnes.
They also claimed that 40-feet containers are also cleared as 20-feet container at a flat rate without carrying out on spot inspection as required under the law.
The weight are shown much less than that of actual weight of paper and board in the container, on the plea of serviceable and unserviceable material.
This malpractice is going on for the last many months, which has caused a loss of million of rupees to the national exchequer, the sources added.
According to them, appraisement staff have hand in gloves with the clearing agents who are directly approaching the importers of paper and board, and offering them that they would not only get cleared consignment from the appraisal staff at a charge of Rs 150,000 per consignment but also manage its transportation to the godown.
After March 2003, the paper prices have gone up in the international market by US $100 per ton, but despite that some of the importers are still getting cleared their consignments by mis-declaring price, which is considerably less than that of the import price of textbook boards, which had imported printing paper. This clearly indicates malpractice of under-invoicing.
The sources have urged the government to take strict action against the elements involved in this irregularity as the practice is not only causing loss to national kitty but also created non-competitive business environment for honest importers.
They suggested that rate of customs duty must be reduced to zero for raw material and maximum five percent for manufactured material. Each container must be checked/ inspected as permissible under the rules.
The sources further proposed that discretionary powers of appraisement staff should be reduced and loading on invoices must be stopped to check corrupt practices.