Staff Reporter :
The Customs Intelligence Department on Wednesday sought information on 16 luxury cars from World Bank (WB) Dhaka office, on the grounds that these cars were handed over for personal use violating the law.
The cars were brought to Bangladesh for use by the WB officials in Dhaka under duty-free facilities.
In a letter to the WB’s Bangladesh Country Director, the Customs Intelligence requested for information, including passbooks and whereabouts of the vehicles, in seven working days.
“We have sought the information from the WB after allegation that the cars were handed over to individuals for personal benefit in violation of existing rules,” Director General of Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation (CII) Dr Moinul Khan told The New Nation on Wednesday.
“According to the rules, officials should have handed over the passbooks and the cars to CII when they leave the World Bank,” he added.
He said that his department was conducting investigation into the cars for last one and a half months and the CII officials have found irregularities in handing process.
When asked, Dr Moinul Khan said, the WB officials have apparently broken the law in this regard, and actions and measures would be taken against them after contacting the WB’s Bangladesh representative.
“We will seize the vehicles after confirming their whereabouts,” he said.
The Customs Intelligence earlier seized cars of an UNDP and ILO official, a dismissed North Korean diplomat and former Egyptian ambassador for breach of customs rules.
Diplomatic and foreign missions, and global donor agencies enjoy duty-free import privilege, but when the vehicle is sold or handed over to anyone for personal use, tariff as per local rate has to be paid.
“But in most of the cases, the foreigners hand over the cars for personal use breaching rules,” said Dr Moinul Khan.
The CII has already launched crackdown on the luxury cars, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz and sports utility vehicles, plying illegally on roads in the country.
It had seized a total of 40 cars in 2016.
“These cars were imported by the foreigners with duty benefits or Carnet De Passage facility. They later handed over these cars for personal use without paying duty and tax,” said Dr Moinul Khan.
Foreigners imported around 400 luxury cars using the duty-free privilege in last five years. Half of the cars were sent back in time, but the rest have remained in the country breaching the terms of the duty-free and Carnet De Passage facilities.
