December 19, 2002	Thursday	Shawwal 14, 1423

ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: The tax authorities have detected cases of as many as Rs17 million duty evasion on import of various goods.

An official source told Dawn on Wednesday that the duty was evaded by importers on clearing goods on forged documents in connivance with the clearing agents.

The tax authorities detected two containers in a first attempt in which most of the items were cleared on forged document, which resulted into a loss of huge amount to the national kitty.

During further investigation, the official said that 27 more containers were detected, which were also cleared on forged documents. The authorities also discovered two containers at Lahore Dry Port, he added.

The tax authorities have initiated a drive to go through the documents of all containers cleared during the last few years to detect the containers which were cleared on forged documents, the official said.

The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has also directed the port authorities to speed up the release of seized containers of miscellaneous goods.

The official said that during the drive the Karachi Port authorities withheld more than 40 containers on charges of under-declaration.

The businessmen have asked for the early release of the withheld containers, which according to them causing loss to them.

A senior Customs official when contacted said that the containers were seized in the wake of containers detected in which those goods were found which were not mentioned for duty assessment.

Keeping this in view, the official said that the tax authorities withheld the release of the other containers of miscellaneous goods in order to detect the evasion of taxes.

The official, however, said that those businessmen who would produce the complete record to the tax authorities after thorough examination would get their containers at earliest.