Nine suspects held over clearance of old and used vehicles through fake documents

The Collectorate of Customs Appraisement (West) has unearthed massive scam in the clearance of old and used vehicles through the submission of fake documents, and arrested nine suspects, including bank officials.

Irfan Ali, a spokesman for the customs, said on Friday the Collectorate of Customs Appraisement (West), Custom House, Karachi had unearthed scam in the clearance of old and used vehicles through the submission of fake proceed realisation certificates (PRCs) and encashment certificates.

In this regard, a member (Customs-Operations), chief collector of the Customs Appraisement (South), and the collector of Customs Appraisement (West) instructed the R&D branch of this collectorate to investigate the scam and arrest the culprits.

The R&D staff are said to be working day and night to investigate and have been successful in arresting nine suspects, including passport providers, fake PRC providers and bank staff. So far, three FIRs have been lodged on orders from the Special Customs Court, Karachi.

All the suspects are on remand till December 14, 2021. During the initial interrogation, active role of certain banks and their staff have been ascertained. A major breakthrough was achieved when a representative of a private bank, who has been arrested by the R&D staff, has admitted he issued fake PRCs for financial gains.

Moreover, a network of notorious fake PRC and passport providers has also been unearthed, and 29 fake PRCs have been identified so far. In addition to it, more suspicious and dubious PRCs are being detected and will be sent to the head offices of relevant banks for verification. Strict action will be taken against all those involved in this scam.

Earlier, a credible piece of information was received by the Collector of Customs Appraisement (West) that some unscrupulous elements were engaged in the clearance of vehicles against the submission of bogus PRCs and encashment certificates and their subsequent verifications from the bank concerned.

The ministry of commerce inserted certain legal requirements vide Appendix-E of the Import Policy Order-2020 notified vide SRO dated January 15, 2019, to be fulfilled for the import of old and used vehicles by overseas Pakistanis availing baggage and transfer of residence and gift schemes.

Irfan Ali said that as per para 3(6) of Appendix-E of Import Policy Order 2020 reproduced, on “all vehicles in new and used condition to be imported under transfer of residence, personal baggage or under gift scheme, the duty and taxes shall be paid out of foreign exchange arranged by Pakistan nationals themselves or local recipient supported by a bank encashment certificate showing conversion of foreign remittance to the local currency.

“Moreover, the remittance for payment of duties and taxes shall originate from the account of the Pakistani national sending the vehicle from abroad; and the remittance shall either be received in the account of the Pakistani national sending the vehicle from abroad or, in case, his account is non-existent or inoperative, in the account of his family.”

He added that in order to verify the veracity of information, the selected PRCs, which were submitted by the customs agents and duly verified by the relevant bank branches, were again forwarded to the head offices of the banks to verify the contents of the verification letters.

In response thereto, the head offices of the banks confirmed that PRCs were not issued and were fake. The above facts and preliminary inquiry into the matter have revealed that importers, in connivance with a representative and proprietor of customs agents and others involved in abetting, facilitating and association in preparing fake PRCs and their subsequent verification letters, are involved in the clearance of vehicles on fake documents.

The relevant record, i.e. original PRCs, letters submitted by customs agents for verification, earlier verification replies of banks, verification replies of head offices of banks, has been seized. The vehicles including one Nissan Clipper, one Toyota Vitz, one Toyota Passo and two Suzuki Every Vans. These vehicles have also been impounded and their market value was approximately Rs10 million.