4.7 Billion Rupee Prado Tax Fraud: Jungle Law Supersedes Statute Law
By Nagananda Kodituwakku –March 12, 2016
Nagananda Kodituwakku
Now, it is apparent that the on going tussle between the Customs Officers and the motor vehicle import trade had taken a different turn. And evidently due to tremendous pressure exerted by the Customs Trade Unions, the Finance Minister, Ravi Karunanayake, has withdrawn the Gazette Notification No 1933/16 issued by him on 22nd Sep 2015 to rectify the serious anomaly created by the earlier Gazette notification (No 1901/3 dated 10th Feb 2015) content of which was in clear contrast with the law relating to the determination of minimum value for motor vehicles for Customs purposes.
Earlier, the JVP Leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, persuaded by the Customs Trade Unions made a very serious allegation against the Yahapalana Administration for causing a colossal revenue loss of over 4.7 billion rupees, by withdrawing the Gazette Notification (No 1901/3 of 10th Feb 2015). He claimed that the ‘short sighted action taken by the Finance Minister’ denied the Customs Officers power to combat revenue frauds, concerning motor vehicle imports. It is important to understand the significance of these two Gazettes and the law under which they had been issued.
Sri Lanka is a signatory to the General Agreement on Trade and Tarrifs (GATT) and in 2003 the Law Relating to Valuation of Commodities was incorporated to the Customs Ordinance. This is popularly known as the GATT Valuation Agreement (Article vii).
