News
Undervalued vehicles to be re-exported to country of origin
View(s):By Damith Wickramasekara
A stock of luxury and reconditioned vehicles imported after undervaluing them are to be re-exported to the country of origin after the Sri Lanka Customs detected the fraud, a senior Customs official told the Sunday Times.
Customs had halted clearing these vehicles after a thorough inspection revealed that the vehicles had been imported by using third-country documents, the source added. While a majority of these vehicles had been imported from Japan, the relevant letters of credit (LCs) had been opened in a third country, in places such as Singapore and Dubai, thereby manipulating the value of the vehicle.
Under existing law, pre-shipment inspection certificates of the vehicles must be endorsed by a bank in the country of origin, but further investigations had led Customs to uncover that Japanese banks had refused to endorse these certificates because the value stated in the auction of the vehicles was different from the value stated in the invoices, leading to suspicions that the vehicles had been undervalued, the Customs official explained.
“We believe the actual value of these vehicles is far higher than the prices that have been marked. We have asked the Import Controller for advice on how to proceed in relation to these vehicles. We don’t intend to release the vehicles for now. According to existing law, we cannot fine the importers, and the only course open to us is to re-export these vehicles back to the country of origin,” the official said.
Meanwhile, a senior Treasury official said they too were aware of the matter. He added the Treasury would instruct the Customs and Import Controller to re-export the vehicles.
Some of the importers had earlier met with Treasury officials seeking permission to clear the vehicles after paying a fine, but the request was turned down.
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