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Three Dhaka-based buying houses were found to have tried to launder Tk 6.9 crore through mis-declaration, according to the Chattogram Custom House.
Customs officials say around Tk 6.90 crore would not have come to the country if the consignments had been shipped.
Now, separate money laundering cases will be filed against H M Fashion Wear, Infinite Service Solution, and RM Sourcing Bangladesh, all are buying houses in the garment sector.
The exporters and their designated clearing and forwarding (C&F) agents have denied any wrongdoing.
Customs documents showed RM Sourcing opened five letters of credit (LCs) with IFIC Bank to export 24,344 pieces of readymade garments worth Tk 30 lakh to Royal Drone International Trading OPC in Venezuela.
However, when the customs authorities physically examined its four consignments, it found 569,322 pieces of t-shirts, up 22 folds compared to the exporter’s original declaration.
Customs filed a departmental case against RM Sourcing on charges of laundering Tk 6.62 crore.
Mohammad Rajib Ahmed, managing director of RM Sourcing Bangladesh, told The Daily Star, “I am not aware of the incident. I suspect that someone had committed the crime with help of our staff in my absence.”
Customs officials seized a consignment of Infinite Service Solution just before its departure from Chattogram port for its destination in the United Arab Emirate towards the end of March.
The buying house opened LCs with Shahjalal Islami Bank for the purpose of exporting readymade garments.
Subsequently, it had declared to ship 38,311 pieces of jeans, shorts sets and short pants worth Tk 18.91 lakh. The customs found 83,351 pieces of goods worth Tk 40.88 lakh in the consignment.
Customs officials think that the company had tried to launder around Tk 22 lakh through the mis-declaration.
Dynamic International Ltd, a C&F agent, was in charge of shipping the consignment on behalf of the exporter, shipping and bank documents showed.
Shyamal Chowdhury, managing director of Dynamic International, said: “Products from another consignment were mistakenly placed in this consignment. There was no motive for money laundering.”
HM Fashion Wear declared to ship around 23,000 pieces of t-shirts, short pants, jeans and ladies ties worth Tk 10 lakh, but the customs found around 41,000 pieces of goods worth Tk 18 lakh in the consignment.
The company would have laundered around Tk 10 lakh if the customs had failed to arrest the shipment, said officials.
Ahsan Ullah, deputy commissioner of customs, said: “They tried to export more goods than declared. There was no chance of this happening by mistake.”
“After analysing bank documents, importers’ invoices, and other papers, we suspect that there was an ill-motive to launder money.”
(TDS)
