Revenue authorities may launch cent-percent physical inspection of the products in case of incomplete information in any suspect letter of credit (LC) or invoice.
Officials said such full-scale Customs probe is conceived as part of government measures for checking alleged trade-based money laundering and duty- dodging.
The decision has been taken in a recent meeting of the National Board of Revenue that tossed effective means of thwarting these twin financial crimes.
Customs policy member Md Lutfor Rahman chaired the meeting, attended by officials of both the Customs and the commercial banks.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) at the meeting urged the banks to follow a set of rules for checking trade-based both-way money laundering through export and import.
In the LC or LC Authorization, the commercial banks have to furnish details of products: their
names, HS code, generic names, brand names, commercial names, chemical names, model, art, part number and so.
The banks will have to scrutinise the information before invoice certification, the meeting sources said.
The meeting addressed the causes of money laundering and duty- dodging that importers or exporters could do through furnishing incomplete information in LC, invoice, packing list of import-export products.
Meantime, the board found some of the banks issuing letters of credit (LC) and LC Authorization without furnishing details of products and HS code and not following the Import Policy Order 2015-18.
Customs process including assessment and clearing the goods from ports usually gets delayed due to some discrepancies in product prices.
It has been found that prices of some finished products are shown lower than that of raw materials in the LCs. The Customs found concealment of actual transaction price in the LCs.
Officials said such misdeclaration in the LC can lead to trade-based money laundering and tax evasion.
A representative of a private commercial bank said competition of banks for LC opening is causing hindrance to compilation of proper information from importers.
"The bank could not follow proper discipline and uniform practice on LC opening due to such competition," he said.
He proposed that the NBR issue a general order on LC opening so that banks can scrutinize proper information as per customs requirements.
An authorised dealer (AD) bank will have to ensure presence of names of exporters and importers, their emails and web addresses and phone numbers before certifying the invoice, the meeting decided.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) will monitor whether the banks are following responsive declaration on certification of invoice, LC, packing list and other commercial certificates at the time of certification.
Letter of credit and invoice should contain the name of the Customs house concerned through which the products will be imported.
Product description and HS code cannot be changed after shipment of products but product chalan can be released with approval from the Customs Commissioner concerned.
Packing lists of products have to be placed in detail irrespective of container or non-container import products, along with the certification of bank.
Quantity and names of products in each packet have to be furnished. Banks should not certify the incomplete packing list, one of the decisions further said.
In case of Less than Container Load (LCL), marks number of packet or carton have to be present in the packing list of products.
During the meeting, a representative from another bank sought access to product-database list of the NBR to verify prices quoted in LC.
To underpin his plea he said, "Banks verify prices on the basis of reference value of previous LC and from internet sources which often does not match the competitive market price."
The BB representative at the meet said banks will be able to certify the actual value if the customs allow the banks to access its Asycuda world reference value.
Banks can find out misdeclaration of products if they find differences with reference value.
They will also be able to submit those as suspicious transaction record (STR) in the division concerned of Bangladesh Bank, the BB official said.
Customs decided to support the banks in amending the Asycuda world access criteria and getting the updated reference value of products.
Customs officials said the Customs determine duty taxes on the basis of paid or payable or nearest ascertainable price.
Banks will have to furnish freight, cost and insurance separately in the invoice of product price.
In case of updated sensitive list of the NBR, the importers have to furnish per-unit product price.
The Customs Member sought cooperation from the commercial banks and requested them to follow responsive declaration of Import Policy Order to help expedite clearance of goods from ports.
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