Tk 102 Crore in Duties Evaded Through Fictitious Import-Export Operations
The National Board of Revenue’s (NBR) Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) has uncovered evidence of revenue evasion worth more than Tk 102 crore through the misuse of bonded warehouse facilities and the sale of duty-free raw materials on the open market under the guise of sham import-export operations.
The CIC said its investigation found evidence of customs duty evasion by two companies, Riaz Knitwear Limited and Lisha Tex (Pvt.) Limited.
The NBR’s Public Relations Office confirmed the findings on Monday. According to the CIC investigation, the two companies evaded a total of Tk 1,025,713,128 in revenue. Of this amount, Tk 947,387,720 was attributed to Riaz Knitwear Limited and Tk 78,325,408 to Lisha Tex (Pvt.) Limited.
The investigation found that Riaz Knitwear Limited imported 2,862 tonnes of woven polyester fabric under bonded warehouse facilities against 41 Utilisation Declarations (UDs). However, nearly 78 per cent, or 2,237 tonnes, of the imported fabric was missing from the factory’s warehouse. The fabric had allegedly been illegally removed from the bonded warehouse and sold on the open market.
Less than one per cent of the fabric was found across the entire factory premises, indicating that the warehouse had been kept almost empty despite the purported imports.
According to the company’s records, around 390 tonnes of fabric had been imported under these UDs in September alone. The assessable value of the illegally removed fabric was Tk 134.29 crore, against which customs duty and tax evasion exceeding Tk 94.73 crore was detected.
Meanwhile, the CIC investigation found that nearly 174,000 kilogrammes of polyester fabric imported by Lisha Tex Limited under bonded warehouse facilities was missing from its warehouse. The company allegedly sold the fabric on the open market, evading approximately Tk 6.10 crore in customs duties and taxes.
The company also exported more garments than authorised while declaring export values lower than the contracted prices. In addition, it procured raw materials through local letters of credit (LCs) outside the approved UDs and violated the mandatory 20 per cent value-addition requirement.
The investigation further found that the company evaded VAT by purchasing accessories and raw materials for more than 400,000 pieces of garments from the local market without approval or VAT payment. It also supplied kit bags worth Tk 3.23 crore to an unlicensed company.
