FBR Probes Customs Officials Over Attempted Clearance of Banned Goods

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has launched an inquiry into senior customs officials, including an Additional Collector and a Deputy Collector, over their alleged role in facilitating the attempted clearance of banned goods under the Export Facilitation Scheme (EFS).

According to an official letter seen by ProPakistani, the Collectorate of Customs (Enforcement), Karachi has recommended an immediate inquiry into officials of the Collectorate of Customs (Appraisement West), including appraising, scanning, and supervisory officers involved in processing the consignments.

An incident report has also been prepared, pointing to the possible involvement of customs officials.

The consignments were declared as compressor scrap, aluminum condenser scrap, iron and steel remeltable scrap, recoverable copper, and other scrap materials. Acting on credible intelligence regarding possible misdeclaration and the attempted clearance of banned goods under the EFS, customs authorities blocked all four consignments at the Allama Iqbal International Container Terminal (AICT) while they were awaiting gate-out clearance.

A subsequent physical examination revealed that the containers primarily contained slightly used or almost new Mid-branded window air conditioners, portable air conditioners, and dehumidifiers manufactured in Thailand, along with only a small quantity of the declared scrap items.

The investigation also found that all four Goods Declarations (GDs) had been assigned to the Yellow Channel and scanned before clearance. In two cases, assessment officers approved the declarations without calling for a physical examination.

In the remaining two cases, assessment officers requested an examination, but the request was rejected by the competent Additional Collector or Deputy Collector, who cited the importer’s history of 587 previous GDs and instructed officers to rely on scanned images unless stronger reasons were provided.

According to the incident report, the scanned images available in the customs system allegedly showed that the cargo did not match the declared descriptions. Despite this, all four consignments completed the assessment process and were cleared for gate out before being intercepted by enforcement officials.

The inquiry will also examine why approval under Section 79(1)(b) of the Customs Act, 1969, which allows goods to be examined before filing a Goods Declaration, was granted even though no evidence suggests that such a prior examination actually took place.

These were the importer’s first EFS consignments cleared through AICT after previously routing imports through Port Muhammad Bin Qasim. The shift reportedly occurred after a similar consignment was intercepted at the earlier port.

Authorities have also sought approval to examine seven additional 40-foot containers belonging to the same importer that remain at AICT and have yet to be cleared. The containers could provide further evidence relevant to the ongoing investigation.

Investigators will also examine the role of the relevant appraising officers, scanning officers, and the Additional Collector after initial findings suggested that the examination requests may have been rejected on his telephonic instructions.