Maheshwari is accused of misusing duty-free imports facility from Bangladesh under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA)
Future Enterprises shares fell 13 percent intraday on July 15 after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence arrested the company's chief financial officer Dinesh Maheshwari for allegedly evading customs duty worth Rs 14.58 crore.
Maheshwari is accused of misusing duty-free imports facility from Bangladesh under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA).
The company was importing readymade garments from Bangladesh through Petrapole Land Customs Station (LCS) without payment of basic customs duty, availing of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) benefit, the agency said in a statement on July 13.
"...he (Maheshwari) appears to be the main person responsible for the evasion of duty to the tune of Rs 14.58 crore by Future Enterprises Ltd. He appears to be guilty of an offence punishable under Section 135 of the Customs Act and has, therefore, been arrested under Section 104 of the Customs Act, on July 12," it said.
Investigations further revealed that the garments were supplied by third country suppliers based in Dubai and Singapore, but were delivered from Bangladesh after minimal processing, the DRI statement added.
The company said the matter related maintainability of certain technical as well as procedural aspects regarding Certificate of Origin issued by Bangladesh authorities, which enables the customs duty exemption availed by Future Enterprises.
Future Enterprises further said it has received confirmation from its vendors, who are supplying goods from their facilities in Bangladesh, that they have complied with the SAFTA Rules, 2006 and obtained SAFTA certificates from relevant regulatory authorities. "They assured continued support for completion of proceedings with authorities," it added.
Further, FEL has recently also deposited part of the disputed amount with the authorities, it said.
The stock was quoting at Rs 32.00, down Rs 2.00, or 5.88 percent on the BSE at 1307 hours IST.
