The unlawful practice being exercised by the Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation, (DI&I) Customs-FBR to transfer the custody of seized consignments in most of the cases to the terminal operators has reportedly cost millions to the national exchequer. The issue came on the surface when the Directorate of Internal Audit (DIA) has established an observation on this illicit practice.
According to the observation, which is exclusively available to the daily, revealed that DI&I in most of the cases gave the custody of seized consignments/containers to the terminal operators by taking the shadow of section 169 of the Customs Act 1969. However, the DIA has claimed that there is no such provision is available to authorise the seizing staff to give the seized goods under the custody to the person other than authorised customs officer under section 169 of the Act.
Therefore, the DIA termed the said practice as unlawful, which has so far cost millions to the national exchequer. It further said that there was no record of seized goods in the state warehouse and no one knows the where-about of confiscated goods, due to the said unlawful practice regarding the transfer of its custody to unauthorised authority.
Subsequently, the DIA has directed the DI&I to stop the said practice and urged its senior management to look into the matter and take requisite action to protect the government revenue.
It also suggested the Directorate to carry out study of the cases wherein confiscated goods were still under the custody of irrelevant person other than the officer of customs and take further action to recover the legitimate government revenue. The DIA has not only ordered the DI&I to furnish a detailed report in this regard and submit it within a month but also restricted it to justify this omission and take measures for the auction of confiscated goods.