Thirty-six textile mills in Narsingdi did not install over 83 per cent of power looms imported under duty benefit at their factories over the last five years, National Board of Revenue officials said.
The textile mills owners imported a total of 30,353 power looms in the last five years under concessionary duty at 1 per cent rate applicable for capital machinery import but installed only 5,021 power looms at their factories as per condition of the benefits.
The National Board of Revenue officials said that the mills authorities sold 25,332 power looms on the open market, violating the conditions of import.
At least Tk 200 crore in customs duty and taxes and Tk 39 crore in VAT have been lost due to the irregularities.
The Narsingdi Division of the Customs Excise and VAT Commissionerate, Dhaka (East) detected the irregularities in recent drives conducted at the factories based on intelligence, they said.
As per conditions of the statutory regulatory order of the NBR, machinery imported under the duty benefit should be used only for production purpose and strictly prohibits sell and transfer to other entities.
In many cases, the VAT officials found that the mills owners imported products for which customs duty at higher rate was applicable under the special arrangement offered to manufacturers.
They said that the VAT office had also identified the individuals involved with the irregularities.
It also requested the Customs House, Chattogram to enhance monitoring to prevent such malpractice in import of machinery and take legal steps against violation of the customs act.
According to the VAT office, the textile mills involved in such irregularities include Zohra Textile Mills, Aida Textile, Al Amin Textile, Amin Mir Textile, Ovi Tie Dye and Swing House, Karim Textile, RK Textile, Fahad Textile, Agomoni Textile, SB Textile, Bunon Textile, Moni Textile, Nijhum Textile, Umaiza Textile, Modern Textile, Shilpi Textile, Sultana Textile, Moon Tex, MR Textile, HR Textile, Harun Textile, Mother Textile, Rangdhanu Textile, Madina Textile, Zarif Textile, Baroza Textile, Hazi Sizing Mills, Haque Textile, Momin Textile, Yeamin Spinning, Sneha Moni Textile and Sarker Textile Mills.
(NA)