The Delhi Bench of Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has held that the customs department has failed to prove allegations in illegal export against Customs House Agent (CHA).
The bench of Dr. Rachna Gupta (Judicial Member) and Hemambika R. Priya (Technical Member) has observed that there is no evidence produced by the department to prove the allegations of lack due diligence on part of the CHA nor of abatement in impugned illegal exports. There is not even any evidence on record to prove that the appellant had derived any benefit out of alleged violation by the exporters or out of availment of ineligible drawback.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Delhi Zonal Unit, received an information about one Shri Vinod Kumar Mulani to have been involved in siphoning off duty drawback from the exchequer by export of inferior quality of readymade garments at highly overvalued price using various bogus/front firms created using fake Permanent Account (PAN) or PAN Cards obtained on the basis of fraudulently created residential proofs. Based on the said intelligence, the investigations were conducted.
Shri Vinod Kumar Mulani despite several summons avoided his presence and cooperation to the investigating officers, however he surrendered on 06.09.2010 before the court of ACMM, New Delhi and prayed for the bail and he joined the investigation pursuant to the directions of the said court on 17.09.2010 wherein he disclosed the name of the bogus firms opened by him and the names of the persons in whose name those firms were got opened.
He also named various traders from whom he was purchasing the garments and opened bank accounts in the names of those firms created by him. The investigating team recorded the statements of various others who were named by Shri Vinod Kumar Mulani and conducted searches in several premises including the premises of the appellant.
He disclosed that Binod Kumar Singh, partner of M/s. Innovative Cargo Services, CHA, Who is the present appellant, had undertaken the customs clearance of his proprietary concern M/s. Simran Exports, M/s. Alpha Impex and M/s. Kenstar Overseas.
The tribunal held that the oral testing of Shri Vinod Kumar Mulani about paying Rs.2000/lac of export clearance to the appellant stands uncorroborated. There is no corroboration to that effect despite the department had done a meticulous enquiry with the banks of the exporter firms but no single documentary evidence could have been produced showing any remittance to the appellant out of the amounts received by those firms in the name of duty drawbacks.
The CESTAT has held that in absence of any evidence to support the allegations of the show cause notice against the appellant, the penalty against the appellant has wrongly been imposed.
Case Details
Case Title: M/s. Innovative Cargo Services Versus Commissioner of Customs (Exports), New Delhi
Case No.: Customs Appeal No. 50002 of 2020 [DB]
Date: 21.02.2025
Counsel For Appellant: Sharad Srivastava and Ms. Gunjan Tanwar
Counsel For Respondent: Rakesh Kumar
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