The Pakistan national exchequer lost as much as US$579 million in unpaid duties, tax evasion and pilferage in Afghan transit trade goods, according to the findings of an inquiry committee of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), reported The Financial Daily.
The panel was formed under the Supreme Court's directives.
It found that traders and revenue officials colluded in making 23,882 commercial containers "vanish" from Karachi port and avoided paying as much as $579 million in duties and taxes.
Of the total, 19,000 containers, supposedly dispatched for the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) between January 2007 and October last year, were pilfered before they reached their exit points Chaman in Balochistan or Torkham in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
As the Supreme Court resumed hearing into the "suo motu'' case about the Isaf containers scam, FBR chairman Salman Siddique informed the bench that FIRs had been lodged against importers, clearing agents, terminal and port operators, Customs officials, shipping agents, and transporters in 147 such incidents.
He also informed the court that lukewarm response from the Afghan government in providing details of commercial transit cargo sent to Afghanistan was creating delay in verifying the facts.
The panel was formed under the Supreme Court's directives.
It found that traders and revenue officials colluded in making 23,882 commercial containers "vanish" from Karachi port and avoided paying as much as $579 million in duties and taxes.
Of the total, 19,000 containers, supposedly dispatched for the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) between January 2007 and October last year, were pilfered before they reached their exit points Chaman in Balochistan or Torkham in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
As the Supreme Court resumed hearing into the "suo motu'' case about the Isaf containers scam, FBR chairman Salman Siddique informed the bench that FIRs had been lodged against importers, clearing agents, terminal and port operators, Customs officials, shipping agents, and transporters in 147 such incidents.
He also informed the court that lukewarm response from the Afghan government in providing details of commercial transit cargo sent to Afghanistan was creating delay in verifying the facts.