1818 imported vehicles cleared in 5 hours

Officials of the import wing of Chittagong Customs House (CCH), biggest revenue earner for the national exchequer, reportedly became over efficient and finished formalities of clearing more than 1800 automobiles before Wednesday midnight.
According to some of the retired customs officials the state exchequer could have received more than Taka 540 million if the clearing process of the large number of imported automobiles was done under the usual system.
“The customs men probably had looked more for their personal benefits and the interests of the importers instead of bulking the state exchequer,” Zahirul Islam Talukdar, a retired customs official commented.
A specialized row-row vessel ‘MV Lilac Each’ with 1818 reconditioned cars of different brands and categories anchored at the Bravo Point of outer anchorage of Chittagong maritime port slightly before sunset on Wednesday.
Local car importers with the intention to make unusual profit mainly utilizing the advantages of the recently proposed tax policy imported largest number of cars from Japan. The MV Lilac Each is learnt to have transported the last consignment before the budget session.
Some of the over enthusiastic officials of the customs boarded the car carrying vessel immediately after anchorage and collected the duly signed and stamped import general manifesto (IGM) including the relevant papers for noting the total consignment. The customs officials submitted the import documents at the house and started processing of the final entry quickly. By 11:15 in the night on Wednesday the customs men processed clearing of the all 1818 cars. The cars started getting down from the vessel after its berth at the jetty yesterday afternoon.
Customs officials seldom go to the outer anchorage for collecting the import documents. The documents usually go to them from the port after formal berth of the vessel at the jetty. Only this time they overperformed and confirmed profit margin of the importers and the dealers at the end.
Each of the cars under the latest consignment would have gone under the fresh tax slabs if the clearance process was not done by zero hour yesterday.
“Usually the customs men deny processing of any final entry submitted after 3:00 p.m. and it is well understood why the customs people worked late night and got the whole consignment ready for clearance under the old tax frame,” Sabbir Ahmed Nipu, an importer said.

Courtesy of The New Nation