Frauds and irregularities cost Rs. 58 bn. Customs revenue

The Customs Department has lost tax revenue of over Rs. 58 billion due to various frauds and irregularities, parliament sources said on Friday. Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, MP Patali Champika Ranawaka, instructed the officials of Ministry of Finance and other institutions to take immediate steps to recover this amount.

In addition it was also revealed that there is a big racket in imported arecanut (Karunka) from Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar being exported as Sri Lankan arecanut for which there is a big demand in India and Pakistan.

The arecanut is imported at between 750-900 dollars per tonne and exported with a high mark-up as a Sri Lankan product. This is easily possible under the India – Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement and has caused losses to exporters of the genuine Sri Lankan product.

Around 100 containers with 1,493 tonnes of arecanut are under Customs detention, the parliamentary committee was told.The Director General of Customs informed the committee that an order has been given to collect 100 percent fines for valuable goods such as gold brought into the country illegally. Already more than 290 million rupees have been charged as fines from ten such smugglers, parliament sources said.