ISLAMABAD – Rs 4 billion corruption scandal unearthed in Pakistan Customsfrom top customs officials.
A customs intelligence report has revealed that some high-ranking officialshave caused the national treasury a loss of Rs. 4 billion by deliberatelyunder-declaring imported goods.
According to the report, customs officials had requested to manuallyinspect the containers entering from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border afterthe automated machine reportedly went out of order. As a result, seniorcustoms officials manually inspected 110 containers full of high valuedimported goods.
The report, however, reveals that not only was the automated machine wasshut down on purpose, but the customs officials cleared 350 containersinstead of the reported 110. All 350 containers were rushed throughclearance as officials claimed they had perishable items like onions andpotatoes.
Moreover, little to no amount was paid on these containers. While theamount to be collected per container was supposed to be Rs.7.2 million,custom officials only collected Rs. 82,400 for each container.
Read Top Stories
Pakistan Customs has forwarded the intelligence report to the Federal Boardof Revenue (FBR), Prime
Minister Office, and Finance Ministry. The case has been turned over to theFederal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further investigation.
