Misuse of passport for vehicle import: FIA reluctant to withdraw customs officials' names from FIR

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is reluctant to withdraw the names of customs officials from the FIR, lodged for misusing passport of a passenger for importing a vehicle, it was learnt here on Tuesday. According to sources, customs department in its letter to FBR requested the board to persuade FIA authorities to withdraw the names of customs officials, saying that officials were neither guilty of loss of revenue nor committed any act of corruption.
The letter said that department did not find any proof of collusion on the part of customs officials and termed the FIR as unwarranted against customs staff. However, the FIA officials were of the view that nomination of customs officials in the FIR was based on investigation hence they were not ready to withdraw their names. Meanwhile, the confrontation between the two agencies is adversely impacting the clearance of imported vehicles, which has virtually blocked, creating problems for commercial importers.
They said the customs department despite having Sindh High Court (SHC) verdict had given verbal orders to its field formations to stop the clearance of imported vehicles where Goods Declarations (GDs) had been filed by the clearing agents on behalf of the importers.
The sources said that customs department had made the presence of importers mandatory for the clearance of imported vehicles, which was not only against SHC's orders but also causing to block the clearance of imported vehicles, virtually. Replying to a question, the sources said that customs department in order to avoid contempt of court notice had neither given written instructions nor admitted to have communicated new guidelines to its field formations regarding the clearance of imported vehicles.
However, the SHC in its judgement dated June 21, 2010 in CP 861/2010 said, "Where-after the vehicles are imported in the name of individuals but the import documents are in possession of the dealer would not be in the way of the dealer through the customs agents."
"This is for the simple reason that possession of the import documents itself denotes that the individual in question has authorised the dealer to get his motor vehicle released from the customs authorities," it said. "Once the vehicles are released from the port premises then of course they would be registered upon sale to the individual buyers in accordance with section 23 of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance."
"Therefore, the customs department is bound to entertain the documents submitted by the clearing agent on behalf of the importer," it added. It is to be mentioned here that the FIR was registered after investigation conducted by FIA on the basis of a written complaint lodged by a passenger regarding misuse of his passport by an agent dealing with issuance of visa. The complainant alleged the customs clearing agent imported vehicle on his passport fraudulently under Personal Baggage Scheme (PBS) without his knowledge.
The FIA Crime Circle, Karachi during the course of investigation scrutinised immigration data base and the entry/exit stamp affixed on the said passport were found fake/forged thus arriving at the conclusion that the clearing agent had committed fraud with the complainant from whom the passport was taken for issuance of visa. The FIA officials have further nominated six more officials of the Collectorate in this FIR.