The bonded warehouse authority cancelled a record number of licences in 2014 on charges of various malpractices, including tax evasion, a high official said.
The number of licences cancelled last year was the highest in the last ten years, official data showed. Â
According to data available with the Customs Bond Commissionerate (CBC), the authority cancelled a total of 48 bond licences in 2014 while it was only 04 in 2005.
The CBC authority cancelled a total of 189 licences in the last ten years (2005-2013) due to various types of irregularities. Besides, punitive actions had been taken against more than 230 organisations for their fraudulent activities.
Punitive measures include suspension, freezing of bank accounts, blocking of BINs (business identification numbers) or filing cases under Section 202.
"Our vigorous drive against malpractices helped us in cancelling a large number of bond licenses last year," CBC Commissioner Dr Md Shahidul Islam told the FE on Monday.
"Besides, we have made a change in our drive against irregularities which has helped us find out real culprits," he added.
According to the commissioner, the CBC has made surprise visit to the offices of licence-holders and checked stock of goods in the warehouses.
"As the information on the schedules of our pre-planned drives used to be leaked out somehow earlier, we have changed our technique of checking which has worked well," Mr Islam added.
"We have become strict in checking utilisation of the goods imported under bond facility against export which also helped us find out tax dodgers," he said. Â
However, the CBC commissioner couldn't say the exact amount of taxes and duties dodged by exporters and the figure of goods sold in the local market.
According to another high official, the amount could be multibillion worth of taka that the bond licence-holders are dodging the government by misusing tax-free import facility. Â
The CBC high official said export-oriented factories, especially garment and textiles sector import more goods against their export orders and sell a portion of the imported goods to the local market dodging taxes and duties.
Capital machinery and raw materials such as cotton, fabrics, accessories, art cards, paper, duplex board and poly dana etc are the main goods the local exporters import under duty-free facility with bonded warehouse licences.
According to the CBC official, fabrics, art cards, paper, duplex board and poly dana are widely sold in the local markets. According to the official data, the authority has so far issued around 6,000 licences. Of them, 4,000-4,500 are active in business.
Local exporters imported goods worth Tk 1,121 billion in 2014, followed by Tk 1,150 billion in 2013 and Tk 1,030 billion in 2012.
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CBC cancels 45 licences in 2014
Badrul Ahsan | Published: April 07, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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