Use of technology to combat frauds

According to a recent Recorder Report from Islamabad, elimination of misuse of exemptions and concessions on clearance of imported consignments under the Pakistan Customs Computerised System (PCCS), as made possible from the withdrawal of powers of customs appraisers to allow benefits of concessionary notifications and exempted imports, has been instrumental in saving huge amounts of revenue through plugging this loophole in the system.
For, now senior level management of the PCCS alone has to accord approval to allow exemptions and concessions to avoid any misuse of the powers available to the customs department. As against this, previously, appraisers enjoyed the power to allow the benefits of concessionary notifications, resulting in misuse of the facility.
Understandably, therefore, the transfer approving authority to the level of additional collectors to extend exemptions and concessions, in genuine cases, will appear to have made all the difference. For the news report under reference has also revealed in no ambiguous terms that since the implementation of the new policy at PCCS, the revenue collection from the computerised clearance system has substantially improved.
However, it was not the change of approving authority alone that brought about such a big change in the working of PCCS. For, it was not for anything that 'system alerts' were increased in view of the past incidence of clearance made by fictitious companies.
Reference, in this regard, may also be made to subsequent denial of access of Karachi-based customs appraisers and examiners to 'customs reference number' (CRN) of importers, and deletion of data of inactive importers from the PCCS clearance system. These measures were certainly resorted to in order to control corruption and to avert misuse of the system by 'ghost' businessmen.
Similarly, extension of online facility to genuine importers to update them about the status of their GD processing without visiting the Karachi Customs House, could not have been deemed expedient without the urge to ensure the best of results from the computer-based clearance system. All in all, the whole exercise should serve as sort of an example for combating the menace of computer-generated crime in its various forms.