The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Thursday busted a “racket” in which a shell company was used to import undervalued imports worth Rs 18 crore. Four persons have been arrested.
“The magnitude of misdeclaration is huge. The extent of undervaluation has been found between 80 to 100 times to the value declared before customs,” said an official. This helped them evade customs duty. “As part of this operation launched by the DRI four consignments from China and Hong Kong imported at Kolkata port by one Kolkata based firm were intercepted and examined.”
As per sources, the importer used a Kolkata-based shell company with a valid Import Export Code (IEC) to import the goods.
“The shell company’s directors with other persons allowed the IEC to be misused for a hefty consideration without going into the nitty-gritty of the imports,” an official told The Indian Express.
The accused include Shailendra Singh (the IEC holder), Sanjay Agarwal (suspected to be the middleman in the racket), Mukesh Kumar (a partner in the shell company) and Lakshman K Das (also associated with the firm).
Source: indianexpress.com