Ledger to graft cartel
BAC files case against duty exemption inspector
Star Report
The Bureau of Anti-corruption (BAC) yesterday filed a case against Inspector of the Duty Drawback and Exemption Department Mohammad Sohrab Hossain for allegedly running a bribe cartel. BAC has charged him with taking 10 to 12 per cent of the amount of tax exemption in bribes from at least 50 companies. In exchange, he used to provide these firms illegal benefits in terms of extra tax exemption. BAC filed the case on the basis of a ledger it seized on May 21 from Sohrab Hossain. The ledger contained names of the representatives of 50 companies that used to bribe him for the illegal benefits. During interrogation, Sohrab confessed to taking bribes from and giving illegal benefits to these companies. BAC Inspector Rafiquzzaman filed the case with the Kafrul Police Station yesterday. BAC will now probe the corruption and file the charge sheet. It would also try to find out if any other officials of the Duty Drawback and Exemption Department were involved in the cartel. BAC sniffed the corruption out following a complaint by one Khasrul Alam who said Sohrab claimed Tk 26,400 in bribes for clearing three of his files. Sources said BAC is also investigating how these 50 companies obtained illegal tax exemption. BAC investigators would visit the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to obtain the tax exemption-related files of these companies. The Duty Drawback and Exemption Department has been given the mandate to exempt 13 export-oriented industrial products from taxes. These are crust and finished leather, carpet, urea fertiliser, ceramic, melamine, printed calendar, cigarette, newsprint, furnace oil, stainless steel and cartularies. The industries producing these 13 categories of products depend on imported raw materials. On import, the industries pay import duty and they can claim refund of the duty within six months of export. The department refunds the duty through commercial banks. Annually, the refunded amount sums up to about Tk 100 crore. It is now speculated that a large chunk of the refund is based on false claims. In another dramatic twist, robbers looted a huge amount of money from the apartment of the Director General of the Duty Drawback and Exemption Department, Jahurul Haq, on May 27. Police said the looted money was a chunk of the bribe raised by the department.
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