ILO hands over duty-free Toyota

ILO country office in Dhaka today handed over a white Toyota sedan, which was brought in Bangladesh under a duty-free facility, to the officials of Customs Intelligence and Investigations Directorate.

The officials of International Labour Organization (ILO) handed over the vehicle around 1:00pm at its Gulshan-1 country office, four days into the directorate sought information from the World Bank about 16 vehicles its officials brought under a duty-free facility.

The National Board of Revenue in 2003 framed a rule that allowed foreigners, who work at the local offices of international development agencies like the WB, the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank, to import durables including vehicles at zero duty.

The durables brought in under the facility must be listed on a passbook, and when the foreigners leave Bangladesh for good, they should return the passbooks to the NBR and dispose of the durables.

The foreign nationals can chose to take back the durables with them or sell those to people with the same status as them, and the NBR must be informed about their choice of action.

If the persons leave the country without disposal, the head of the organisation concerned will be responsible for them, according to the rules.

This car was used by an ILO official who was working as an International Specialist in ILO, Bangladesh from 17 June 2008 to 31 December 2016, Moinul Khan, Director General of Customs Intelligence, told The Daily Star.  

While working in Bangladesh he bought the car for personal use under the duty-free facility.

Being respectful to the rule, ILO handed the car over as Customs Intelligence has been vigilant against unlawful use of duty free vehicles by various international organisations recently, the Customs official said.

According to the rule, he was supposed to return the pass book and the car to NBR before he left Bangladesh on 31 December, 2016 after completing his assignment here.