In a case that recently came to light involving the whitewashing of IMEIs on more than 10,000 smartphones from well-known brands, the Customs Collectorate in Islamabad has filed formal complaints against two importers, Al-Hamd Enterprises and Pak-China traders.
According to the FIR, Inspector Ijaz Ahmad and Appraiser Ayesha Jamil audited 5 GDs of M/s Al-Hamd Enterprises under the direction of ADC Salaha Zakir Shah.
This audit indicated that the company imported 9,946 while presenting 5,989 luxury phones for inspection.
According to the customs collectorate, the corporation failed to reveal 3,957 imported phones to customs employees, who then reported them missing, resulting in a staggering loss to the national exchequer of Rs. 238 million.
In a different FIR, a customs team audit of one GD of Pak China Enterprises discovered that, despite declaring 1,837 phones in the Webox system, the company only provided 218 phones to customs officers for inspection.
1 619 imported phones were not mentioned by either business to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) or Customs personnel.
According to the FIR, they eventually also succeeded in getting a Certificate of Compliance from PTA.
Customs employees issued the Webox report while declaring these 1,619 imported phones missing, costing the national exchequer Rs. 122 million.
According to sources, a person by the name of Zohaib Hassan sought the chief collector of customs in Islamabad to register an FIR against the importers and customs agents in this case.
Examiners in the aforementioned cases falsely claimed that more than 600 mobile phones per GD were not located.
However, when the list of these IMEIs were examined, it was discovered that only 15 RMB/Pc Per I-Phone Mobile was paid and that more than 8,299 IMEIs were whitewashed from the tax list and given type approval, resulting in tax evasion of more than Rs. 360 million, which seems to be the tip of the iceberg only.
However, their IMEI numbers were mentioned in their declaration GDs. He also mentioned this in his application.
Later, it was discovered that these phones and IMEIs were still in use, posing a high-risk AML/CFT threat to the state.
To read our blog on “‘Committee Wali Baji’, a scammer who stole 420 million rupees, appears in court,” click here.
