Import licences: Customs collector hushes up arms import scandal

Sources say he handed a luxury car to NAB investigators.

LAHORE:

Customs collector Salman Abbasi is said to have hushed up the matter of his involvement in an arms import scandal by handing a pricey non-custom paid car to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team which came calling to probe his role.

He is reported to have promised another car to the team.

Abbasi has been accused of clearing a cache of automatic weapons worth millions of rupees and passing it off as a consignment of semi-automatic weapons.

Abbasi has been charged with acting in collusion with a former PML-Q lawmaker Ejaz Diyal and another person Farhan in the racket. The three men are charged with using single import licences of civil officials and members of sensitive agencies to execute the scheme.

These charges were contained in a letter sent to federal interior and commerce secretaries, chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), DG ISI, DG FIA and IG Police Punjab by one who called himself ‘well-wisher of Pakistan’.

It is reported that some days ago, a NAB team headed by additional director Waqas raided the customs office located in Gulberg during which they exchanged harsh words with the customs staff. At this point, the customs staff let Abbasi know of this development. Being seated inside at the time, he invited a senior NAB official into his room and allegedly “settled matters”.

Under mutual agreement, he handed a non-custom paid Mark X vehicle for use of the NAB’s senior officer and promised to provide a luxury jeep within the next few days.

To keep the whole episode under wraps, the customs staff spun the story that NAB officials had been using non-custom paid vehicles provided by customs department, and that they had come to get them replaced with the new ones.

On being approached for his version of the story, NAB’s additional director Waqas said “this was not a raid. We had gone there for (discussing) professional matters.” He denied receiving the luxury car as bribe.

Meanwhile, after the arms import scandal was exposed by newspapers and TV channels, customs registered a case against the company which imported 9mm pistols from Turkey, a consignment which was pending customs clearance for two months.

A similar case had been registered by Abbasi against arms dealers said to be business rivals of his close friend and former PML-Q lawmaker Ejaz Diyal. All of them won bail from the Lahore High Court. The case had allegedly been recorded at the instigation of Mr Diyal.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2011.