The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai, detained one of its own employees, Mushtak Chowdhary, on Tuesday for allegedly assisting in import fraud and the evasion of duties adding up to Rs84 crore.
According to a DRI officer, the case was detected in 2006, but a detention order against Chowdhary under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (Cofeposa) was issued last week.
Chowdhary, who was posted at the Nhava Sheva port as a tax assistant, allegedly helped importer Sultan Dharani and his associates to bring in goods worth Rs190 crore and sell them in the local market without paying customs duty.
Dharani was arrested last fortnight in Mumbai.
Confirming this, a DRI officer, who cannot be identified under the directorate’s rules, said: “The case was detected in 2006 when large imports were effected by Dharani and his associates on forged documents showing that the goods were kept in customs warehouses in North India when they were actually being sold in local markets.
Chowdhary was found to have actively colluded with the fraudsters, who forged documents such as bank guarantees, customs warehouse bond certificates, and other papers.”
Importers are allowed to stagger payment of duty on goods kept at customs warehouses, paying the levy only on the quantity that they withdraw from time to time.
But Dharani and his associates, with help from Chowdhary, who allegedly endorsed the forged documents submitted by them, were able to sell the entire consignment worth Rs190 crore without paying the duty due (Rs84 crore).
Chowdhary allegedly helped them to show on paper that the consignment was still sitting in a customs bonded warehouse.
Meanwhile, the DRI, Delhi, detained an exporter, Amit Bajaj, against whom an order under Cofeposa was issued three days ago.
Under Cofeposa, a person can be put in preventive detention for a period of up to one year if a state or the Union home department is convinced that there is no other way to prevent him or her from continuing to indulge in smuggling.
a_renni@dnaindia.net
