Wikipedia

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (Bengali: কাস্টমস গোয়েন্দা ও তদন্ত অধিদপ্তর) is a specialized intelligence agency of the government of Bangladesh under the National Board of Revenue responsible for investigating tax evasion and customs fraud.[1] Syed Mushfequr Rahman is the Director General of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate.[2] VAT Audit, Intelligence and Investigation Directorate and Central Intelligence Cell are the sister agencies of the directorate.[3][4]

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate
Formation1972
HeadquartersDhaka, Bangladesh
Official language
Bengali
Director General
Syed Mushfequr Rahman
Parent organization
National Board of Revenue
Websiteci.gov.bd

History

edit

In 2004, the Minister of Finance, M. Safiur Rahman, announced the formation of a separate intelligence agency for Value Added Tax, called VAT Audit, Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, which had in up to that point overseen by Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate.[5] It seized foreign currency from Zia International Airport.[6] The Deputy British High Commissioner in Mumbai asked the directorate to investigate Bangladeshi companies smuggling Heroin into the United Kingdom in July 2005.[7] It seized Indian Sarees imported without paying taxes.[8] Its investigation found evidence of tax evasion by companies through under invoicing at Chittagong Port.[9]

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate seized 6700 cellphone sets and 82 gold bars from Dhaka and Chittagong on 18 November 2015.[10] The new headquarters of the directorate was inaugurated at the building of Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh.[11]

In 2016, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate seized a car, Mitsubishi Shogun, that was imported under Carnet de Passag but violated its rules from Chittagong.[12] According to the directorate, 300 cars were imported using Carnet de Passag but only half were taken out of the country while the rest remained violating the rules of agreement.[13] The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate seized a drone and a taser from the Shah Amanat International Airport.[14]

Moinul Khan, Director General of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, in a press briefing accused Apan Jewellers of smuggling gold to evade custom duty on 23 May 2017.[15] It filed five cases against Apan Jewellers and its owners Azad Ahmed, Dildar Ahmed, and Gulzar Ahmed.[16] It seized a Mercedes Benz owned by Dildar Ahmed from Sylhet.[17] The directorate also asked the managing director of Raintree Hotel, Shah Mohammad Adnan Harun, to appear before it after it had found illegal alcohol and evidence of tax fraud following a raid at the hotel.[18][19][20] It seized the car of Moosa Bin Shamsher for dodging tax during import.[21] He was later summoned by the directorate.[22] It seized salt (sodium chloride) that had been imported falsely declared sodium sulphate.[23] On 15 October 2017, the directorate seized 12 gold bars and arrested two including an employee of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.[24] World Bank surrendered two cars to Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate after it sought information on 16 cars the organization imported.[25] The World Bank handed over another car a few days later.[26] It identified a ring that imported consumer goods made in China as capital machinery to evade taxes.[27] It seized two illegal guns from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.[28]

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate sued Mastex Industries Limited for 1.2 billion taka for abusing its bonded warehouse facility.[29] Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate seized a Land Rover Defender and a Toyota Harrier for tax evasion in July 2018.[30] Custom Intelligence and Investigation Directorate seized 136 gold bars from Shah Amanat International Airport in August 2018.[31] It also seized four gold bar and ornaments from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.[32]

On 30 January 2019, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate arrested MA Kader, chairperson of Crescent Group.[33] Shakera Khatun, an inspector of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, produced MA Kader in court seeking remand in an embezzlement case, in which he is accused of embezzling money from Janata Bank through fraudulent paperwork.[34][35] Following raids on illegal casinos in Dhaka ordered an investigation on the import of casino equipment which violated Public-Gambling Act-1867.[36] It detained an it expert who hacked into the server of National Board of Revenue to release products without inspections from the port.[37][38] The directorate questioned 14 importers after an abnormal hike in the price of onions in the market.[39]

In February 2021, the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate seized 60 gold bars and arrested eight employees of US-Bangla Airlines from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.[40] In October 2021, the directorate seized 120 gold bars from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.[41]

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate seized a Rolls-Royce that had been imported in Bangladesh without proper declaration and paying taxes by the Z&Z Intimates Limited, a subsidiary of Ananta Group, in 2022.[42] It fined the company 560 million taka for the Rolls-Royce.[43] It seized 107 tones of clothes imported under a fake declaration.[44]

References

edit
  1. ^ "About Us". ci.gov.bd. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Message From DG". ci.gov.bd. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  3. ^ "38% of revenue comes from VAT: NBR chairman". The Daily Star. 2021-12-09. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  4. ^ Hussain, Imtiaz A. (2022-03-31). Global-Local Tradeoffs, Order-Disorder Consequences: 'State' No More An Island?. Springer Nature. p. 121. ISBN 978-981-16-9419-6.
  5. ^ Rahman, Avik Sanwar. "No step yet to set up Vat intelligence directorate". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  6. ^ "Foreign currency worth Tk1.8cr seized at ZIA". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  7. ^ Khan, Jasim Uddin. "UK customs detect smuggling of 75kg heroin from Dhaka". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  8. ^ "Smuggled Indian sarees worth Tk 88 lakh seized". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  9. ^ Khan, Jasim Uddin. "Customs probe import tax". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  10. ^ "6700 mobile sets, 82 gold bars seized in Dhaka, Ctg". The Daily Star. 2015-11-18. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  11. ^ "NBR zeroes in on tax dodgers". The Daily Star. 2015-08-28. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  12. ^ "Luxury car bought 'dodging tax' seized in Ctg". The Daily Star. 2016-06-07. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  13. ^ "Customs intelligence cracks down on illegally imported cars". The Daily Star. 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  14. ^ "Man held in Ctg with stun gun, drone". The Daily Star. 2016-01-21. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  15. ^ "Apan Jewellers' gold brought in 'smuggled way': CIID chief". The Daily Star. 2017-05-23. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  16. ^ "Apan Jewellers' owners sued for evading duty". The Daily Star. 2017-06-08. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  17. ^ "Mercedes Benz of Apan Jewellers owner seized". The Daily Star. 2017-05-23. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  18. ^ "VAT graft found against Raintree hotel". The Daily Star. 2017-05-14. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  19. ^ "Banani rape: CIID quizzes Raintree owner". The Daily Star. 2017-05-23. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  20. ^ "Ranitree Hotel MD appears before customs intelligence". Daily Sun. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  21. ^ "Tax Dodging: Customs seizes car 'used by tycoon Moosa'". The Daily Star. 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  22. ^ "Tycoon Moosa summoned for using luxury car evading tax". The Daily Star. 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  23. ^ "2000 tonnes of illegally imported salt seized at Ctg port". The Daily Star. 2017-07-10. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  24. ^ "Biman staffer arrested with 12 gold bars". The Daily Star. 2017-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  25. ^ "WB hands in 2 duty-free vehicles". The Daily Star. 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  26. ^ "WB hands over another duty-free vehicle". The Daily Star. 2017-02-26. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  27. ^ Parvez, Sohel (2017-07-23). "Stunning case of import fraud". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  28. ^ "Two illegally imported pistols seized at airport". The Daily Star. 2017-07-10. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  29. ^ "Customs files Tk 120cr case against Mastex for duty evasion". The Daily Star. 2018-01-03. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  30. ^ "Cases filed for dodging tax of 2 luxurious cars". The Daily Star. 2018-07-31. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  31. ^ "136 gold bars seized at Ctg airport". The Daily Star. 2018-08-06. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  32. ^ "One held with 4 gold bars, ornaments at Dhaka airport". The Daily Star. UNB. 2018-08-31. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  33. ^ "Tk 919cr Laundering: Crescent group boss arrested". The Daily Star. 2019-01-31. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  34. ^ "GRAFT CASE: Crescent group boss remanded". The Daily Star. 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  35. ^ "CIID seeks remand of Crescent chairman". The Daily Star. 2019-02-05. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  36. ^ "Stop entry of casino items". The Daily Star. 2019-10-03. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  37. ^ "CIID arrests man 'who accessed NBR server'". The Daily Star. 2019-09-09. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  38. ^ Suman, Mohammad (2021-11-15). "NBR server breached, again". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  39. ^ "Price Hike of Onion: Customs detectives quiz 14 importers". The Daily Star. 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  40. ^ "Smuggling Gold: Customs finds 60 bars in catering truck". The Daily Star. 2021-02-10. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  41. ^ "120 gold bars, hidden in plane's tissue box chamber, seized". The Daily Star. 2021-10-06. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  42. ^ Suman, Mohammad (2022-07-06). "Rolls-Royce seized from Baridhara for custom rule violation". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  43. ^ "Rolls-Royce importer fined 56C". Dhaka Tribune. 2022-10-18. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  44. ^ "CIID seizes 107 tonnes of clothes for exploiting bond facility". The Business Standard. 2022-10-18. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Customs_Intelligence_and_Investigation_Directorate&oldid=1255634318"