Customs dept to go public on aircraft duty evasion

New Delhi, August 20: Emboldened by three court orders in its favour, the customs department has decided to go public on the result and status of the massive evasion case detected by them in the import of charted aircraft under the Non-Scheduled Operators Permit (NSOP) scheme.

The department is making a presentation on the case to the media on Thursday in which details of the aircraft seized and pattern of customs duty evasion will be shared. While the first batch of show-cause notices had resulted in a prompt paying up of customs duty by the airline divisions owned by Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani among others, three Corporates had proceeded to challenged the action in court.

The three companies are Global Vectra Helicorp, Taneja Aerospace and Dove Airlines, who filed petitions in the Delhi and Kolkata High Courts. However, they have now been asked to pay up the customs duties to get their impounded aircraft released.

While DGCA data shows that 252 aircraft were given licences under the NSOP scheme since 2007, till date, 12 show-cause notices have been issued and others are in the process of being served.

Interestingly, sources in the department say that even as a case-by-case investigation of the duty evasion is in progress, they have begun questioning officials of the civil aviation ministry and the DGCA on how the procedures and guidelines for the NSOP scheme were framed.

Inside the probe

•Questions raised about how NSOP operators were freely allowed to import aircraft but no checks were maintained on their use

•Examination of log-books and bills of entry revealed that bills were hardly ever raised after flights, which was against the conditions of the NSOP licence and a violation of its customs duty exemption clause

•The total of evaded customs duty collected by the customs department presently stands at Rs 35.67 crore

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