Customs officials have detected alleged revenue evasion of more than Tk1.5 crore involving two garment exporters who allegedly misused bonded warehouse facilities by illegally removing imported fabrics and attempting to export undeclared garments.
The irregularities were detected during separate inspections of export consignments belonging to Eagle Textiles and Reaz Knitwear Limited at two inland container depots (ICDs) in Chattogram, according to a press release issued by Customs House, ICD, Chattogram on Thursday.
In the first incident, a preventive team conducted a 100 per cent physical examination of an export consignment of Eagle Textiles at QNS Container Service Ltd on November 11.
The consignment, covered by Bill of Export No. C-712836 dated November 9, was declared to contain 237 cartons of four types of garments – ladies’ shirts, men’s shirts, ladies’ trousers and ladies’ dresses.
However, the inspection found 173,349 pieces of stock-lot garments of 14 different types, made from knit and denim fabrics, packed in 237 sacks. These goods were not included in the export declaration.
The fabric composition of the garments also did not match the specifications mentioned in the Utilisation Declaration (UD) issued by the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).
The UD had specified fabric composition of 95 percent polyester and 5 percent spandex woven print.
Customs officials estimated that the alleged illegal removal of fabrics imported under bonded warehouse facilities involved more than Tk80 lakh in revenue evasion. Another Tk9 lakh in value-added tax (VAT) was allegedly avoided on locally sourced finished garments, calculated at a rate of 7.5 per cent.
In the second incident, customs officials detected similar irregularities in an export consignment of Reaz Knitwear Limited during a physical inspection at Shafi Motors Limited’s off-dock on October 28.
The consignment, covered by Bill of Export No. C-649046 dated October 27, had been declared as containing 687 cartons of men’s polo shirts.
The inspection, however, found 50 different types of garments made from knit and denim fabrics, which were not covered by the export declaration.
Customs officials also failed to find 65,050 pieces of garments made from fabric with a composition of 96 percent polyester and 4 percent spandex, as specified in the UD issued by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) on July 2.
The alleged illegal removal of bonded fabrics in this case involved more than Tk70 lakh in revenue evasion, the press release said.
Customs authorities said final investigation reports were being prepared and legal proceedings were under way in both cases.
Customs House, ICD, Chattogram said it would continue surveillance and enforcement operations to protect government revenue and prevent the misuse of bonded warehouse facilities.