The 'refrigerated lorries' imported in violation of Import Policy Order 2007 upto January 31 2008 would be released on payment of duties and taxes along with 30 percent redemption fine. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has amended SRO 487(I)/2007 through a notification issued on Tuesday.
Through this amendment, the board has regularised vehicles imported in violation of Import Policy Order on payment of 30 percent redemption fine of the cost and freight (C&F) value of these lorries.
It is worth mentioning that the board had asked the provincial motor registration authorities not to register 50 vehicles cleared by customs officials of Karachi in clear violation of Import Policy Order.
Now, the importers would be able to register these vehicles with the provincial motor registration authorities after getting a clean chit from the customs department.
Sources said that certain customs officials of Karachi interpreted financial year 2006-2007 as calendar year (January-December 2007), resulting in clearance of over 100 vehicles in a clear violation of Import Policy Order. The officials committed two major violations during the clearance process.
Firstly, they managed to clear vehicles till December 31, 2007 despite the fact that the financial year 2006-2007 ended on June 30, 2007. The exemption was available on the import of specific vehicles during year 2006-2007 under the Appendix-C of the Import Policy Order. Sources said that second violation related to the clearance of vehicles, as these were 10 years old. The accused officers cleared over 10 years old vehicles ignoring the import policy restrictions.
Resultantly, the board had suspended 6-7 customs officials including additional collectors and appraisers, who cleared used vehicles from different collectorates including appraisement collectorate, Karachi during a period of six months of last year.
The inquiry is underway against the officers to ascertain whether they deliberately cleared the vehicles or it was done inadvertently, sources added. The inquiry has been initiated against the officers to ascertain whether they deliberately cleared the vehicles or it was done inadvertently. The proper examination and verification of documents is needed to confirm the allegations against these officers.