During the first quarter (July-September) of the current financial year, National Board of Revenue's (NBR) wing Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) officials have been overwhelmed with case files.
They have filed 1,942 cases in just three months, which is 230.37% more than the same period last year.
According to NBR's latest data, during the same period of the previous financial year, the number of cases filed by the CIID was only 843.
Data analysis shows that the customs wing of the NBR recovered Tk171.29 crore in duty evaded by 947 traders during this period.
Customs Intelligence said the increasing number of cases indicates that the detection capacity of the cell increased in the current financial year.
But insiders believe that one of the reasons behind such a massive number of case files was the government's 30% incentive offer.
The government has offered customs officials a 30% incentive against each case filed. Regarding this, former NBR chairman Muhammad Abdul Majid told Dhaka Tribune earlier: “If any officials file any cases to get the 30% cash incentive and harass traders, that will be very shameful. So, NBR should investigate it properly. Customs officials should be careful that no traders are harassed in the process.”
“The detection of more cases, however, was a good sign,” he added.
“A fully automated customs system can eliminate such problems and complaints. Apart from this, the entire revenue system needs to be truly automated, which will increase the revenue of the government,” the NBR chairman suggested.
The customs wing of the NBR collected Tk22,353.84 crore in the July-September quarter of the current fiscal year.
Of the customs duty, 84.53% was submitted through the online payment system, according to the NBR.
Regarding the matter, CIID Director General Mohammad Fakhrul Alam said: “65% of the case was at the post-clearance audit stage. Most of the cases are related to harmonized system code violation or quantity manipulation.”
