Cigarette raw material imported in name of non-existent company

An investigation into the importer of Cellulose Acetate Tow, one of the key raw materials used to make cigarette filters, has found that the company in whose name the material was imported does not appear to exist.

Yet the company has been importing hundreds of thousands of kilograms of the costly cigarette raw material.

On 18 August, the National Board of Revenue's (NBR) Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) seized more than 48,000kg of Acetate Tow from two containers imported in the name of a company called Unique Traders at the Chattogram Customs House.

In a statement issued today (23 September), the NBR said it had been unable to locate the purported importer following the seizure. The shipment directly involves more than Tk16 crore in revenue.

The NBR has also calculated that if cigarettes had been manufactured using the raw material, the potential revenue involved would have amounted to Tk324 crore – which authorities believe could have been sold through illegal channels.

According to the NBR, 3,63,000kg of Acetate Tow was imported in the name of the company within just one year and had already been cleared from customs, raising concerns within the revenue administration.

Meanwhile, the NBR's intelligence team has identified four more companies that imported unusually large quantities of Acetate Tow. Investigations are now underway into those companies as well.

The NBR said, "While analysing data on Acetate Tow imports, the CIC found four more companies for which information has already been obtained indicating that there is no actual business activity at their registered addresses."

The intelligence wing also found that the companies do not submit VAT returns or other required documents, nor do they provide the necessary VAT-related records to the relevant authorities.