Import of vegetable oil & its products: Massive under-invoicing detected

KARACHI: The Directorate of Customs Intelligence Karachi has detected a massive under-invoicing in the import of vegetable oil and its products from Indonesia.

According to the details, the importer was found to be clearing goods on fake invoices at low value, providing severe financial shocks to the national exchequer.

They said that the directorate is equally focusing on its anti-smuggling drive and other venues of revenue leakages, adding that assistance is being sought from relevant agencies locally and abroad to identify hawala/hundi transactions and offshore bank accounts through which the additional foreign exchange is likely being routed by the accused importer.

The evasion of duties and taxes by the said importer is estimated to be around Rs275 million. The officials said that around four original invoices were retrieved from different sources in Indonesia and efforts are underway to retrieve other original invoices. A case has been registered and further investigation is in progress.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023