PESHAWAR: President Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry Fauzia Inayat said that the shipping companies and terminal operators should be treated with iron hands in order to stop billions of rupees losses to importers.
The President WCCI said this while talking with Customs Today in Peshawar. Fauzia Inayat said that the loss of importers money at hands of corrupt terminal operator (PICT), Customs authorities, shipping lines and their agents including Greenpak, United Marine Agencies, KMTC and Evergreen must be treated strictly in order to discourage them to demand additional demurrage and detention charges and inflicting Rs 15 billion loss to the importers.
The SRO 1220 and section 14 A of customs act 1969 stated clearly that no demurrage or detention charges would be taken after issuance of ‘delay and detention certificate’ to importers by Customs but the evil lords in the shipping lines and some terminal operators charge hidden charges from importers which is against the customs laws and rules stated out by federal board of revenue, Fauzia Inayat added.
She said some importers have already filed 13 applications to lodge FIRs against these shipping lines which are valid proof against the fraudulents who carry out illegal activities to cause loss to the customs exchequer.
The President WCCI added that licenses of Deputy MD of Greenpak Abdul Rauf, CEO of United Marine Agencies Sohail Shams, COO PICT Khurram Aziz Khan and Chairman Marine Group Capt. Haleem Siddiqui, must be cancelled for demanding additional demurrage and detention charges from importers.
If the Customs authorities fail to secure the interests of importers it will increase the doubts among genuine importers who work day and night to provide assistance to meet the demand of the market. The Customs high ups need to act upon the received information and start crackdown on fraudulents at PICT which serves as biggest container terminal operator in the country.
The Customs authorities must take immediate action against the people involved in the gambling of importers assets and the doubts must be removed in order redevelop the trust of importers on the shipping lines which has been distorted by few shipping companies and customs officials.
A complaint filed by importers said, “They, through their shipper/agents in China, handed the goods to KMTC Ltd. as trust to be delivered and released here at PICT, Karachi. The shipping lines nominated M/S United Marine Agencies (Private) Limited as their agents at Karachi for the same while the company PICT Ltd. took custody of the goods as trust at PICT port, Karachi. Importers also long back paid in full to the shipping lines the ocean freight charges as agreed between the parties. But despite repeated reminders and visiting office of M/S United Marine Agencies (Private) Limited and of PICT Ltd., they did not release the goods yet”.
Importers further said, “The actions of KMTC Ltd. through its owners, management and staff including but not limited to Jong Seug Park, Yong Hwa Shin, others and of M/S United Marine Agencies (Private) Limited through its owners, management and staff including but not limited to Manzoor Ahmed, Lars Tore Bergstrom, Lars Goran Safverstrom, Mohammad A Dhamee, Sohail Shams, Rishad Kirmani, Mohsin Lodhi, others and of PICT Ltd. through its owners, management and staff including but not limited to Haleem Siddiqui, Christian R. Gonzalez, Roman Felipe S. Reyes, Aasim Azim Siddiqui, Rafael D. Consing Jr., Gordon Alan P Joseph, Hans-Ole Madsen, Sharique Azim Siddiqui, Khurram Aziz Khan, Muhammad Hunain, Junaid Qureshi, Shujaat Hussain, others, individually and jointly, tantamount to conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, mischief to cause losses, threatening, etc. which attract penal sections under PPC 34, 407, 409, 420, 427, 506, besides others.”
In another similar complaint, “Importers firm, through their shipper, handed the goods to Evergreen Line as trust to be delivered and released to them here at PICT, Karachi. The shipping lines nominated M/S Greenpak Shipping (Private) Limited as their agents at Karachi for the same while the company PICT Ltd. took custody of the goods as trust at PICT port, Karachi. Importers also long back paid in full to the shipping lines the ocean freight charges as agreed between the parties. But despite repeated reminders and visiting office of M/S Greenpak Shipping (Private) Limited and of PICT Ltd., they did not release the goods yet”.
Importers said, “The actions of Evergreen Line through its owners, management and staff including but not limited to Chang Cheng-Yung, Chang Kuo-Hua, Chang Kuo- Ming, Ko Lee-Ching, Lee Mong-Jye, Hsieh Huey-Chuan, others and of M/S Greenpak Shipping (Private) Limited through its owners, management and staff including but not limited to Javed Iqbal, Mohammad Reza Ghaem Maghami, Safdar Hussain Mehkri, Syed Qamar ul Hasan, Abdul Hamid, others and of PICT Ltd. through its owners, management and staff including but not limited to Haleem Siddiqui, Christian R. Gonzalez, Roman Felipe S. Reyes, Aasim Azim Siddiqui, Rafael D. Consing Jr., Gordon Alan P Joseph, Hans-Ole Madsen, Sharique Azim Siddiqui, Khurram Aziz Khan, Muhammad Hunain, Junaid Qureshi, Shujaat Hussain, others, individually and jointly, tantamount to conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, mischief to cause losses, threatening, etc. which attract penal sections under PPC 34, 407, 409, 420, 427, 506, besides others.”