NAB authorises inquiry against Customs officials

PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday authorised an inquiry against officials of the Customs Department, Peshawar, who had allegedly mis-declared specifications of luxury vehicles to reduce the applicable duty and taxes in return for receiving bribes/kickbacks.

The Regional Board Meeting (RBM) of NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was held under the chairmanship of Brig (R) Farooq Naser Awan, director general, NAB KP, in Peshawar. The meeting was attended by directors, additional directors, case officers and other concerned officers. It authorised an inquiry against officers of Customs Department.

The bureau claimed that during initial scrutiny of record it was discovered that luxury vehicles of 3000 CC engine capacity and above were declared of low specification as per valuation rules causing low base price for calculation of duties and taxes. Thus, it said, national economy suffers loss of hundreds of millions of rupees. Besides this, it said the RBM decided to file reference against officers/officials of TMA in Dera Ismail Khan and others about corruption and misuse of authority.