Rs 4 billion corruption scandal unearthed in Pakistan Customs from top customs officials
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ISLAMABAD - Rs 4 billion corruption scandal unearthed in Pakistan Customs from top customs officials.
A customs intelligence report has revealed that some high-ranking officials have caused the national treasury a loss of Rs. 4 billion by deliberately under-declaring imported goods.
According to the report, customs officials had requested to manually inspect the containers entering from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border after the automated machine reportedly went out of order. As a result, senior customs officials manually inspected 110 containers full of high valued imported goods.
The report, however, reveals that not only was the automated machine was shut down on purpose, but the customs officials cleared 350 containers instead of the reported 110. All 350 containers were rushed through clearance as officials claimed they had perishable items like onions and potatoes.
Moreover, little to no amount was paid on these containers. While the amount to be collected per container was supposed to be Rs.7.2 million, custom officials only collected Rs. 82,400 for each container.
Pakistan Customs has forwarded the intelligence report to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Prime
Minister Office, and Finance Ministry. The case has been turned over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further investigation.
