KARACHI: Another major tax evasion scandal has surfaced in the oil industry, where thousands of tons of petrol were allegedly removed from a customs facility without payment of duties and taxes, raising serious questions over regulatory oversight.
Media reports quoted available documents revealing that a private company is alleged to have secretly removed petrol valued at Rs 2.38 billion from a customs bonded warehouse, resulting in an estimated loss of Rs 1.25 billion to the national exchequer on account of customs duties, taxes and levies.
The irregularity came to light during an inspection of private petroleum import consignments.
The matter was subsequently confirmed through a physical verification of stock held at the customs bonded warehouse located at Bin Qasim Port.
As per the document, the company had imported over eighteen thousand metric tons of petrol through three separate consignments. During the inspection, the available stock at the warehouse was found to be around nine thousand six hundred metric tons, leaving a shortfall of more than eight thousand three hundred metric tons from the declared quantity.
Further investigation into the matter is underway, and records have been sought from the relevant petroleum regulatory authority for scrutiny.
This development comes after a similar case in which another private petroleum company faced allegations of tax evasion involving billions of rupees, with the Federal Board of Revenue reportedly recovering around Rs 5 billion in that instance.
