LAHORE: An estimated over $20 billion smuggled items are being dumped in Lahore markets annually inflicting huge losses on legal business and it cannot be controlled unless the customs authorities concerned keep national interest ahead than vested interests.
These views were expressed by Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Vice President Zeshan Khalil while talking to Customs Today here the other day.
He said that legal importers are paying huge amounts as duty and taxes rates, regulatory duties and sales and other taxes while illegal importers are given free hand and no one is there to check them.
“Across Lahore almost all the markets are dumped with over 80 percent smuggled items”, he said, adding that legal importer has to face a number of check posts at roads leading to Lahore from Karachi sea ports.
“The cleared containers of importers are stopped on their way to Lahore and threatened with to lodge FIRs and at that very point the legal importers have to bow down to pay bribe.”
“They have to grease the palm of the customs authorities to make it possible to get their legal consignments to the warehouses, if they don’t pay they have to pass through the mental agony and pain as their lawful consignments have to pass through illegal processes,” he pointed out.
He said that over $20 billion illegal items are dumped and the customs authorities are very well aware of the fact but they do not have the courage to go ahead and seize illegal godowns due to the reason that smugglers are greasing their palms regularly and the top authorities are cognizant of the fact but no one taking action for eradicating smuggling for their vested interests.
The black sheep in customs department and illegal importers have developed a very well contrived mechanism to mint money at the cost of national exchequer and only a ruthless move can break the nexus, he further said.
The customs authorities for their vested interests harass the legal importers in order to run their homes. They never had any information or any legal authority to check the legally imported items but they do for meeting their and their high-ups expenses, Khalil highlighted.
Answering a question about controlling smuggling in the city, he replied that where there is a will there is a way and if there is no will there is no way.
“The smuggling shoots up when taxes and duties are imposed by the governments irrationally to meet the revenue targets, people tend to incline to use illegal means,” he said. It is result of the irrational imposition of duties and taxes that smuggling and illegal import takes roots and criminal elements get stronger, the LCCI VP Zeshan Khalil said.
On the other hand, there should be exemplary punishments for people involved within the department and smugglers, he believed, adding that China is one of the best examples of development in the world.
When Chinese are asked as to how they got the revolutionary development they always said that they opted for zero tolerance for corruption across the country.
“We must have to go for rationalizing duty and taxes first and then take ruthless measures against all involved in illegal import and smuggling, he said, adding that implicating legal and illegal importers and sparing officials of the customs department would not change the situation.