No immunity from duty exemption granted to UAE consulate

The Kerala government had not granted immunity to the UAE Consulate here to import freight without Customs examination or assessment via air and seaports in the State during 2019-20 and 2020-21, according to a report given by the State Protocol Officer (SPO) to the Customs Department.

The SPO told the Customs that neither had the Consulate sought such a duty exemption from the government nor had any waiver been granted.

Any “foreign representation’ in the country could import goods below the value of ₹20 lakh without the prior approval of the ‘Protocol Special Section’ of the Union Ministry of External Affairs. However, the embassy would have to seek the sanction of the State Protocol Officer for import of goods below the estimated value of ₹20 lakh.

The Customs had last week sought details of duty exemption certificates granted by the SPO to the UAE Consulate during the period as part of its investigation into the smuggling of gold in bulk via air cargo consignments addressed to the diplomatic mission here. The department is investigating how P. Sarith and Swapna Suresh could repeatedly obtain immunity from Customs examination for air cargo consignments they had imported in the name of the diplomatic mission.