ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has constituted a three-member fact-finding committee to probe fraudulent clearances of imported goods to the tune of billions of rupees by violating laid-down conditions and without attaching mandatory import documents.
The FBR issued a notification on Tuesday to establish a high-level committee regarding issues related to the Financial Instruments (FI) Functionalities. The fact-finding committee comprises the Director General (Reforms and Automation) Islamabad, Shakeel Shah, the Chief Collector Appraisement (South) Karachi, Ashhad Jwad, and the Collector of Customs Appraisement (East) Karachi, Sanaullah Abro, FBR notification added.
It is learnt that importers with the alleged connivance of customs officials bypassed the mandatory requirements of Financial Instruments and managed to clear goods worth billions of rupees. The importers with the help of customs officials cleared imported goods without tagging the required electronic Import Form (PSW-FI) in customs’ WeBOC.
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Under the filing and processing of the Goods Declarations (GD) in One Customs, the importers are required to get a FI issued from the banks in respect of all modes of payment which may be letter of credit, contract, advance payment, open account to complete an import or export transaction, sources added.
The customs authorities have also issued the Terms of Reference including to ascertain whether the issues highlighted resulted in revenue loss for the government with remedial measures if required, to quantify misuse of Open Account in F1 functionality of WeBOC (keeping in view SPB policies and instructions regarding trade-related remittances and to suggest way forward for reconciliation with concerned authorised dealers).
The FBR’s ToRs also included: (i) The role of the Pakistan Single Window (PSW) and department of reforms and automation in the detection of system vulnerabilities and taking corrective action.
(ii) Quantification of misuse of FI-exemption through Chapter 99 mids-declarations with legal, technical, and administrative remedies.
(iii) Legality of use of single FI for multiple GDs including quantification of misuse.
(iv) The legality of use of FI covering declared Value rather than assessed Value with suggestions for improving Customs processes and SBP regulations.
(v) To ascertain whether changes in Web-Based One Customs (WeB0C) modules are being made by PSW unilaterally.
(vi) Suggest suitable processes if needed and ascertain whether the issues highlighted were an outcome of integration design failure or deliberate attempts to circumvent Foreign Exchange regulations. In the case of the latter, fixation of responsibility.
The director of Reforms and Automation Karachi and CEO of Pakistan Single Window (PSW) to ensure the provision of all relevant data/documents to the committee in a timely fashion.
The inquiry committee may opt for any official ad deemed necessary or the purpose of the fact-finding inquiry, the FBR’s notification added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023