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Transcom Group protests malicious news reports
The Bangladesh Electrical Industries Ltd., a unit of Transcom Group, has strongly protested the allegation of tax and duty evasion leveled against the company by some newspapers recently and termed such allegations as incorrect, distorted and motivated.
In a press release, issued by the Executive Director of the Bangladesh Electrical Industries Ltd., Obaidur Rahman Khan, yesterday referred to the news items published over the past few days in the "The Daily Jugantar", "The Daily Inqilab" and the "The Independent" alleging evasion of import duty, tax and VAT by the Bangladesh Electrical Industries Ltd. and termed them as a deliberate campaign to malign the good name of the Transcom Group.
It said that neither none of these newspapers published any rejoinders nor did they bother to take any comments from the Bangladesh Electrical Industries Ltd. while writing their reports, which is a common journalistic practice. Only Jugantar made a sketchy reference to one of the rejoinders, the press release mentioned.
Clarifying the actual position the Bangladesh Electrical Industries Ltd. stated that:
The present consignment of 10 containers consists of 880 CKD (Completely Knocked Down/unassembled) refrigerator kits valued at Tk. 78 Lacs. Each CKD kit (refrigerator) consists of more than 50 different parts and components packed separately. These have to go through 18-step assembly process to make finished, CBU (Complete Built Unit/ready for use) refrigerators in our factory. This assembly line for refrigerators was first established in October 2003 encouraged by the Government's policy in the current fiscal budget. Prior to this Transcom only imported refrigerators in CBU (ready for use) condition.
The first consignment of 35 refrigerator kits in CKD condition was imported on 18-10-03 followed by a second similar consignment of 910 CKD refrigerator kits in 13-122003. On both occasions, Customs Authority after thorough examination released the goods as CKD.
Similarly, the present consignment of 880 CKD refrigerator kits was imported on 30-12-03. This time also, the Customs authority after due appraisal on 1-1-04 accepted the goods to be in CKD condition and assessed Tk 31.5 lacs as duties and taxes, which was duly paid on 5-1-04.
Since, 6-1-04 our consignment has been held up at the Chittagong port for reasons, which have been not been communicated to us by the Customs Authority in spite of our repeated letters. We want to also mention that all import consignments including the present one have been duly certified by the PSI agency confirming that they are in CKD condition.
In the meantime the above newspapers have been carrying on a malicious campaign against the Transcom Group accusing us of Duty, VAT and tax evasion. We want to categorically state that all their accusations are absolutely false. Transcom Group is among the most diligent tax paying groups in the country. We have been foremost in paying all applicable duties and taxes, having paid more than Tk. 70 crores in 2002 alone. The figure for 2003 is expected to be higher.
We vehemently protest the contents, implications and innuendoes contained in the reports of the three aforementioned newspapers. It appears that a deliberate campaign is being made to tarnish the image and reputation of the Transcom Group, which has always tried to adhere to ethical business practices for which it enjoys a modicum of respect and goodwill.