The Defence Export Promotion Organisation (DEPO) has appointed M/s Agility Logistics, software developer of the automated customs clearance system 'PaCCS', as the sole official customs agent for the exhibition 'Ideas 2012', sources said on Thursday.
They said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), which claimed finding 'serious discrepancies' in PaCCS operations, suspended the same at all ports and replaced it with a locally-developed software called WeBOC. Meanwhile, the nomination of the Kuwait-based software developer as the sole customs agent in the highly sensitive defence-oriented exhibition has raised serious questions regarding the FBR's rationale.
The sources said the conflict between FBR and M/s Agility Logistics surfaced when the software developer had presented a formal demand of $62 million for its services rendered since March 2005. They said at that time, the board was keen to purchase the software at market price, but the company offered to sell the same at $42 million, excluding service charges. However, the board, despite generating a revenue of Rs 1.75 billion on daily basis from PaCCS, declined its offer and dragged the issue to a French court for mediation.
Moreover, they said, the DEPO's appointment of M/s Agility Fairs & Events (Pvt) Ltd as the sole official freight forwarder and M/s Agility Logistics (Pvt) Limited (CHAL No2248) as sole customs agent to file Goods Declaration (GD) for the exhibition had raised questions regarding the logic FBR's decision. They said that "no other individual/organisation/clearing agent shall be allowed to act as freight forwarder and no other customs agent/ organisation/individual shall be allowed to file GDs for IDEAS- 2012". According to the sources, the DEPO would issue authorisation certificate for temporary import-cum-re-export for each consignment imported for display in the exhibition.