A consignment of luxury and reconditioned vehicles, fraudulently undervalued at the time of importation, is to be re-exported to the country of origin following a major detection by Sri Lanka Customs, a senior Customs official told the Sunday Times.
The vehicles were withheld from clearance after a comprehensive inspection revealed that they had been imported using documents from third countries. While the majority of the vehicles originated from Japan, the letters of credit (LCs) were opened through third countries such as Singapore and Dubai, allowing importers to manipulate the declared values.
According to existing regulations, pre-shipment inspection certificates must be endorsed by a bank in the country of origin. However, further investigations revealed that Japanese banks had declined to endorse these certificates. This was due to discrepancies between the auction values of the vehicles and the values stated on the invoices—raising strong suspicions that the vehicles had been deliberately undervalued, the Customs official explained.
“We believe the actual value of these vehicles is significantly higher than what has been declared. We have already consulted the Import Controller for guidance on how to proceed. For now, we have no intention of releasing the vehicles. According to current laws, we are unable to impose fines on the importers, and therefore, the only option available is to re-export the vehicles back to their country of origin,” the official said.
Meanwhile, a senior official from the Treasury confirmed awareness of the incident and stated that the Treasury would direct both the Customs Department and the Import Controller to proceed with re-exportation.
Some importers had reportedly met with Treasury officials in an attempt to obtain clearance for the vehicles by offering to pay a fine. However, their request was rejected.
