National Board of Revenue’s (NBR) Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) has uncovered evidence of more than Tk102 crore in revenue evasion through the misuse of bonded warehouse facilities and illegal sale of duty-free raw materials on the open market.
NBR’s Public Relations Office confirmed the findings on Monday. The investigation found evidence of customs duty evasion by two companies- Riaz Knitwear Limited and Lisha Tex (Pvt) Limited.
Of the total Tk10,25,71,31,28 in evaded revenue, Riaz Knitwear Limited accounted for Tk94.73 crore, while Lisha Tex (Pvt) Limited was responsible for Tk7.83 crore.
The investigation found that Riaz Knitwear imported 2,862 tonnes of woven polyester fabric under bonded warehouse facilities against 41 Utilisation Declarations (UDs). However, nearly 78 per cent of the imported fabric, amounting to 2,237 tonnes, was missing from the factory’s warehouse, indicating it had been illegally removed and sold on the open market. Less than 1 per cent of the fabric was found across the entire factory premises, suggesting the warehouse had been kept almost empty despite the declared imports.
The illegally removed fabric had an assessable customs value of Tk134.29 crore, against which customs duty and tax evasion amounting to more than Tk94.73 crore was detected.
Meanwhile, Lisha Tex (Pvt) Limited could not account for nearly 174,000 kg of polyester fabric imported under the bonded facility, allegedly selling it on the open market and evading around Tk6.10 crore in customs duties and taxes.
CIC also found that Lisha Tex exported more garments than authorised while declaring export values below contracted prices. It procured raw materials through local letters of credit (LCs) outside the approved UDs and violated the mandatory 20 per cent value-addition requirement.
The investigation further found evidence of VAT evasion through the purchase of accessories and raw materials for over 400,000 pieces of garments from the local market without approval or VAT payment. The company also supplied kit bags worth Tk3.23 crore to an unlicensed entity, resulting in further VAT evasion.
