The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate has uncovered duty evasion of about Tk 13 crore by Williams Sweaters, a garment manufacturer and exporter.
Rizvi Ahmed, additional director general of the directorate, set out the case at a press conference on Sunday at Rajshwa Bhaban, the revenue building in Agargaon, Dhaka.
“Williams Sweaters has been operating since 2014. We are investigating all its activities. The preliminary inquiry has found duty evasion of about Tk 13 crore,” he said.
He said the investigation found no evidence that the company met the conditions under which it imported capital machinery. The company brought in 525 machines under that facility, paying zero or 1 percent customs duty, although duty of 20 to 25 percent applied to such imports. As a result it evaded Tk 11.56 crore in duty on the machinery.
On Saturday, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) said Williams Sweaters had evaded Tk 1.34 crore in duty through the bond and free-of-cost (FOC) facilities.
According to the NBR statement, the company imported 37.08 tonnes of raw materials from China and India under three bills of entry, with an assessable value of about Tk 2.03 crore and assessed duties and taxes of about Tk 1.34 crore.
The company is accused of selling the imported raw materials on the local market instead of using them for production and export as required.
The NBR said a site inspection found several serious irregularities, including the bond register missing from the inspection site, failure to provide import and export data, and a lack of clarity about where the imported raw materials were and how they had been used.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report