Surat businessmen arrested for Rs 5.6 crore Customs duty evasion on walnut imports

Mumbai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested two Surat-based businessmen for a large-scale Customs duty evasion. The two brothers, identified as Sachin Kundaliya (28) and Pratik Kundaliya (32), are accused of importing walnuts by undervaluing their imports and routing invoices through a UAE-based firm to evade Customs duty of Rs 5.6 crore. The agency conducted a search of Gayatri Exim, in Surat and found the firm engaged in the import of in-shell walnuts falling under CTH 08023100 from Chile by resorting to gross misdeclaration of their value. Officials said they had information that the importer routed the invoices through UAE-based firms instead of furnishing the actual invoices issued by the Chile-based supplier. Various pieces of evidence were uncovered in the form of emails and original invoices from Chile, mentioning the quantity, description, and the same container number, corroborating the details of bills of entry."Kundaliya brothers, who are the proprietors of Gayatri Exim, were directly involved in the undervaluation of in-shell walnuts being imported and were aware that they were evading Customs duties. In order to suppress the original value, they routed the invoices through the UAE and evaded Customs duties to the tune of Rs 5.67 crore," said an official.The accused even used the services of hawala channels to pay the differential amounts. Further investigation of past import documents revealed that the accused previously imported 2,900 MTs of in-shell walnuts and evaded Customs duty of Rs 20 crore.

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