Customs server breach: No probe report even after a month

A probe committee formed by the Chittagong Customs House to investigate fraudulent use of two officials' credentials in 11 shipments of imported goods has failed to deliver a report in a month, after missing a seven-day deadline.

The massive security breaches, according to officials, happened repeatedly over a long period of time due to the irresponsible actions of two customs officials and are feared to have cost the government huge import duties in dodged taxes.

Last month, in a letter to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), M Fakhrul Alam, commissioner at the Chattogram Customs House, wrote customs authorities had detected at least two breaches in that month alone.

Following the discovery, a four-member investigation committee was formed to look into the matter. So far, the committee has made little progress, failing to identify even one culprit.

Prottoy International, the only C&F agent involved in the incident, and the importers, are not admitting to any wrongdoing, says the committee.

According to Ctg Custom House sources, the fraudsters imported 11 shipments of goods using the user ID and passwords of two revenue officers— Zainab Begum and Amir Hossain.

Of the shipments, nine have already been unloaded from Chittagong port. The probe committee is tasked to review the process of importation of goods, submission of bill of entry, customs clearance and unloading, verification of the validity of used IP (Import Permit), and has to identify those involved in misconduct in the shipment of goods.

The committee was formed with Chittagong Custom House Joint Commissioner Mohammad Tafsir Uddin Bhuiyan as convener, Deputy Commissioner Md Mizanur Rahman as member secretary, Deputy Commissioner Omar Mobin as an assistant revenue officer, and Md Farooq Abdullah as a member.

Hearings have already been held on importers, C&F agents and concerned officials, Tafsir told The Business Standard (TBS).

"The C&F agent accused of the incident is not accepting responsibility," he said.

However, a letter was sent to the terminal manager of Chittagong port on 29 November to determine how the consignment came out of the port, added Tafsir.

He said a request for information was also made within two working days but the port authorities are yet to reply to the request. That is why the investigation report is being delayed.

According to Ctg Customs House sources, of the 11 bills of entry, the goods of eight entries were unloaded at different times after the transfer of revenue officer Amir Hossain Sarkar from the EPZ, using his user ID and password.

Of the rest of the bills, two were filed using revenue officer Zainab Begum's credentials.

Among the imported products are two shipments of MGL Company BD Ltd, two of Gold Shine Industries, and one each of Grameen Knitwear Ltd, Helicon Ltd, Shanta Denims Limited, Kung Keng Textile Bangladesh, Actor Sporting Ltd, Tigerco Ltd, and Brothers Plastic. Prottoy International, a C&F agent in Chattogram, was responsible for unloading all the shipments.

According to Chittagong Customs House data, these incidents took place between June and October of this year.

When TBS tried to reach Md Hafizur Rahman Happy, using the phone number written on the license issued by Ctg Custom House to Prottoy International, the person on the receiving end claimed to be one Nurul Islam. The same phone number was also registered under his name on the website of the C&F Agents Association.

Meanwhile, Revenue officer Zainab Begum, whose user ID and password were exploited, did not respond to attempts by TBS for comment.

Earlier this month, TBS published a report regarding the fraudulent use of the user ID of Chittagong Customs officials titled, "Swindlers take advantage of weak Ctg customs cyber security".