CBI books three customs officials in corruption cases

The three had, during their terms as deputy commissioners, allegedly helped a gang run a duty drawback fraud, causing losses of ₹6.5 crore to the Government of Indian

The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recently booked three former deputy commissioners of the Customs department in three separate corruption cases.

The CBI has also booked and named the six members of the gang running the racket. (Ht PHOTO)

The three officials served as deputy commissioners of Customs (drawback section) at Nhava Sheva in Raigad between March 2017 and April 2018. During each of their terms as deputy commissioners, they had allegedly helped a gang run a duty drawback fraud racket, which caused losses of around ₹6.5 crore to the Government of India.

Drawback duty is the refund of the duty charged on imported material used in the manufacture of goods exported from India. Drawback duties are held if authorities find any irregularities with the export company and an alert is issued.

A deputy commissioner of Customs (duty drawback section) is authorised to place and lift the alerts on the basis of instructions received from investigating agencies of Customs after obtaining administrative approval from the Commissioner.

The accused customs officials used to lift the alert without administrative approval from the commissioner of the Customs department. The drawback duties kept on hold would get credited to the exporters’ bank accounts. The accused officials would, in turn, get hefty commissions.

According to CBI sources, the accused, Kunal Anuj, an Indian Revenue Service officer of 2012 batch; Kamleshkumar Singh; and Sharad Ranjan allegedly caused a loss of ₹1 crore, ₹2 crore and ₹3.5 crore, respectively, to Government of India.