A case has been filed against an affiliate of one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh for misdeclaring imported goods as they entered into the country.

Custom House, Chattogram (CHC) filed the case against PRAN Beverage Limited, an

affiliate of the largest agro-producer in Bangladesh.

Allegations

PRAN Beverage allegedly imported what shipping documents recorded as 30 containers of plastic resin while in reality the containers were loaded with cement.

The rate of import taxes for plastic resin was fixed at 32 per cent while the rate for cement was 91 per cent.

Revenue dodging

“Apparently, it seems to us that the company tried to dodge a huge amount of revenue through misdeclaration,” joint commissioner of CHC, Shadhan Kumar Kunda said.

“If 32 per cent tax is counted, the total import tax for the containers will be 1.42 crore (US$1.62 million) for plastic grains, while for cement at 91 per cent tax, the amount would be about Tk 4 crore (US$40 million),” he added.

Money laundering investigation

We are also investigating whether the company is involved in money laundering through importing goods through misdeclaration he said.

Evidence of misdeclaration was found during a physical examination of the containers by customs officers.

Pran denial

PRAN Beverage, an affiliate of PRAN-RFL Group, denies allegations of wrongdoing and said that initially it was unaware that the containers were loaded with cement.

The company added that when it did discover cement rather than plastic resin in the containers it informed customs officials of the error.