Probe against ex-Customs officer: Goods kept on hold re-exported on fake orders: CBI

CBI investigation reveals that two consignments of goods were re-exported without authorization by a former Customs superintendent and two private companies, using fake orders. The goods had been on hold for non-payment of fines/penalties. Charges have been filed against the accused.

MUMBAI: The investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into charges of corruption against a former Customs superintendent working with the Jawaharlal Nehru Customs House (JNCH) and others, has revealed that two consignments of goods belonging to import-export firms that were kept on hold for non-payment of fines/penalties were allegedly re-exported without authorisation.

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The goods were allegedly re-exported on the basis of fake orders, CBI sources said.

The CBI on Monday registered a case against a Customs officer, a then superintendent in the Bond section of the Jawaharlal Nehru Customs House (JNCH), Raigad, and others, including two private companies, in an alleged bribery case. It was alleged that the two accused firms had made payments to the accused officer, to get the delivery/release of their goods kept on hold by Customs authorities due to non-payment of redemption fines/penalties worth ₹14.5 lakh. Redemption fines refer to the option given by an adjudicating authority to the person whose goods are confiscated to pay a fine in lieu of confiscation.

An examination of the records brought out the fact that the accused firms that imported the two consignments had allegedly not paid any penalty/duty/fine as warranted and were kept in detention at a warehouse at Uran, Navi Mumbai. While one of the consignments had arrived in February 2022, the other came in December 2021, as per their bills of entry. A bill of entry is a legal document that is filed by a customs clearance agent / an importer on or before the arrival of the imported goods.

A CBI team had subsequently visited the warehouse concerned to check the availability of the detained goods and found that two detained consignments had allegedly been allowed to be re-exported without authorisation, agency sources said. “The goods covered under the concerned bills of entries were allowed for re-export on August 20, 2022, and accordingly the goods were handed over to the concerned firms and also, the same was informed to the Superintendent, import bond section, vide the Monthly Technical Report, dated September six of 2022,” a source said.

The warehouse provided documents related to the two consignments under the scanner. It was found that the accused officer was responsible for handling documents pertaining to re-export. “It was also found that the files, dated August 5 of 2022, through which the purported orders for re-export of the two imported goods’ consignments had been issued, were fake. The files’ numbers pertained to two other firms as per the records of the Import Bond Section,” the source said.

The goods were kept on hold by the Customs authorities and were seized after which they were stored at a Navi Mumbai warehouse. The importers were thereafter served ‘show-cause notice’ for the goods imported by them in alleged contravention of the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. The said show-cause notices were later adjudicated upon by Customs authorities and the penalties and redemption fines were imposed.

A joint surprise check was earlier conducted in the Bond section, JNCH, Raigad, by a CBI team along with JNCH officials. “It was alleged that the redemption fine/penalty of ₹9.56 lakh and ₹4.96 lakh, respectively, were imposed against two bills of entry pertaining to the two accused private companies. The goods covered under these two bills of entry were kept on hold by the Customs Intelligence Unit,” a CBI official said.

It was further alleged that both the private companies entered into a conspiracy with the accused JNCH officer and others by paying an undue advantage and managed to get the delivery of the goods covered under the two bills of entry, the official said.