Woven suiting fabric imported in guise of poly knitted fabric to evade Tk1.1 crore tax

An importer in Narayanganj imported 28 metric tonnes of woven suiting fabric from China under the guise of poly knitted fabric in an attempt to evade Tk1.1 crore in taxes.

The matter came to light when customs authorities at Chattogram port checked the container imported by Nazmul Hosiery (Pvt) and found only woven suiting fabric.

Ahsan Enterprise, the C&F agent of who oversaw the import, submitted a bill of entry to customs on 13 September to release the consignment worth $12,280, said Saiful Haque, deputy commissioner of Chattogram Customs House Audit Investigation and Research (AIR) unit.

However, the customs obtained information that the import was done under false declaration and the AIR branch locked the shipment on the same day, he added.

Later on 19 September, the container was manually checked inside the Chattogram port and about 28 metric tonnes of woven suiting fabric was found in place of 100% poly knitted fabric as previously declared.

Necessary legal action will be taken against the persons and organisations involved in tax evasion and misuse of bond facilities, said Deputy Commissioner of Customs Saiful Haque.

When contacted, Nazmul Hosiery (Pvt.) Ltd official Zakir Hossain told TBS, "We have imported poly knitted fabric products as per declaration. We don't know how different products came instead. We are discussing with the customs authorities regarding the matter."

The government provides duty-free import of raw materials through bond facility for garment exports.

The consignment was imported duty-free under bond facility citing the purpose of exporting ladies shirts to Leopoldo Gross & Asso S.A, Uruguay.

However, it is assumed that they imported woven suiting fabric to sell in the open market. This had caused a tax evasion of at least Tk1.1 crore, says customs sources.