Audit Commissionerate seeks staff to check duty dodges

The Duty Evaluation and Internal Audit Commissionerate has sought clear opinions from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) whether or not this office will be staffed enough to unearth duty evasions as it has nearly been emptied following mass transfers of customs officials.

Commissioner of the Commissionerate Sultan M Iqbal in a recent letter urged the NBR authorities to advise the office regarding the severe crisis for a lack of manpower, which is ultimately hindering revenue collection.

He also urged the Board to put the Bond Commissionerate under the Duty Evaluation and Internal Audit Commissionerate to increase the revenue collection significantly by stopping duty dodging.

In the letter, commissioner Iqbal pointed out that the recent transfers in the non-cadre, first-and second-class gazetted officials under the NBR would jeopardise the aim and the objective of the Commissionerate, especially when the government is thinking about abolishing the malpractice-ridden pre-shipment inspection (PSI) system.

The new government in a major reshuffle has transferred nearly 634 customs officials, ranging from assistant commissioner to inspector, through two separate orders late last month.

The officials have been transferred to different customs and VAT commissionerates across the country. Of the transferred officials, around 500 are inspectors, 96 superintendents and 31 deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners.

“The transfer orders made the Commissionerate almost empty. On the other hand, the posts of assistant and deputy commissioners have been lying vacant for a long time,” Iqbal said.

The Commissionerate in the last fiscal year unearthed evaded duties worth Tk 45 crore in the Dhaka Customs House domain alone, while the amount was Tk 53 crore from the entire country.

According to the letter, in the last one year this office has been under infrastructural development at a cost of Tk 2.2 crore on its new premises. “Under this, an ultramodern data centre has already been established and web-based valuation-database software created to supply it to all stations,” the letter said.

All officials, up to appraiser level, have been provided with desktop and laptop computers with internet connections.

The commissioner maintained that it is mandatory to put importance on the Commissionerate for introducing post-clearance audit and abolish the PSI system in near future. “In the developed world, special importance is given to the post-audit system in duty management,” he said.