Customs officials implicated in graft case

A case was registered on Thursday against the alleged corruption of a customs official during the auctioning of consignments confiscated during Afghan transit trade during 2011-17.

According to sources, a customs officer posted in the Directorate of Transit Trade, Muhammad Zaman Jamali, allegedly reduced the quantity of goods to be auctioned along with his accomplice, Naeem Sheikh. The loss to the national exchequer by Jamali’s actions was calculated at Rs215.9 million.

Transit trade director general Ahmed Raza Khan received information of the embezzlement from the auction of goods confiscated for various reasons, from consignments imported under the guise of the Afghan transit trade between the years 2011-17, claimed sources. The alleged embezzlement was being carried out by understating prices during the auction process.

According to sources, transit trade director Feroz Alam Junejo was directed by Khan to re-examine the consignments cleared for the auction process.

During the re-examination, it surfaced that Jamali and Sheikh had sold goods at Rs4.5 million by understating the weight from the actual 75.3 tonnes to 25.525 tonnes. The actual value of the goods was calculated at Rs215.93 million.

The goods being auctioned were also banned, with most being of Indian origin. Sources claim that corruption has been rampant in the auctioning of seized consignments and customs officials are involved.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2020.