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Thiruvananthapuram:
The Customs division has filed two new circumstances – involving consignments of dates and Qurans from the UAE consulate in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram. These circumstances of offence had been filed on the finish of August.
“Customs has registered two cases regarding consignments of dates (in 2017) and Qurans (in 2020) from the UAE consulate. Prima facie these appear to be cases of fraud and duty evasion. Both consignments involve the foreign diplomat who ordered them and the consignments being handed over to the state government in some form,” Sumit Kumar, Customs Commissioner (Preventive), informed NDTV.
“The consulate claimed an exemption from duty for personal use. The state protocol department endorsed this and the goods were thereafter handed over to the state government; this, prima facie, amounts to customs fraud,” Mr Kumar added.
The probe, which is underway, is wanting into allegations of responsibility evasion and violations of the Foreign (Contribution) Regulations Act (FRCA).
Sources informed NDTV that a number of authorities officers have already been questioned and their statements have been recorded. Anyone who’s a Person of Interest or is linked to those circumstances will probably be questioned, sources mentioned, including that at this level nobody had been named.
Kerala authorities sources informed NDTV that the state had not issued any prior approval or signed any exemption certificates from August 2018 until now. The UAE consulate’s consignment of Qurans was in May 2020. Customs will know extra about this, the supply mentioned.
The state did, nevertheless, countersign the UAE consulate’s utility for The exemption for the consignment of dates in 2017, the supply added, explaining that the request from the UAE consulate had acknowledged the rationale as “use for official purposes”.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has made references to those consignments prior to now and maintained that neither the involved minister nor the federal government had finished something flawed.
“The minister or the government did not ask for the consignments. It was the UAE consulate’s consignments and they reached out to the state government… the Qurans were not smuggled in, they were cleared by Customs,” Mr Vijayan had informed the media.
The Chief Minister had mentioned the consulate sought assist from KT Jaleel concerning the Quran consignment since he was Minister for Minorities, Waqf and Hajj.
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