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Frauds swallow up car taxes, fees

Postal and BRTA staff do not record payment in registers

Monjur Mahmud
A section of corrupt employees of the postal department and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRIA) pocket a considerable amount of taxes paid by car owners and harass them afterwards, an investigation by The Daily Star has recently revealed.
The postal employees in connivance with the BRTA staff do not record the payment in official registers to embezzle the money.
One of tlie victims of such harassment is an army officer, who does not want to be named. He paid the annual tax for his car in time but it was not recorded in the official receipt book.
Some car owners alleged they were deceived in the same way, the
communications ministry has recently decided to collect transport taxes and fees through banks. The decision may come into effect in next three months.
Hie communications ministry says the government annually earns around Tk 250 crore in taxes and registration, transfer, fitness certificate, route permit and driving licence fees from about 7.87 lakh registered vehicles.
Ministry officials told The Daily Star the government could earn anotherTk 500 crore from the transport sector by launching a crackdown on corruption in tax collection and registering all unauthorised vehicles with the BRTA.
Sources said a large number of vehicles run with fake documents
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such as registration and Fitness certificates and driving licences. Owners and drivers manage these papers bribing a section of dishon-estBRTAempIoyees.
Lt Col Anwar Ali (pseudonym! paid Tk 4,545 as annual tax for his car through Shantinagar Post Office last year. When he went to the BRIA a few days ago for a fitness certificate, an official cast doubt on his papers.
On the advice of the BRIA official, Anwar went, to the post office and asked the postmaster to certify the money receipt genuine. The postmaster checked records and identified it as a deception case.
The seal and signature on the money receipt was authentic, but the postmaster found signatory Badal Nandi did not record or deposit the payment.
Badal was transferred two months ago, and the postmaster advised Anwar to meet higher authorities at the General Post Office (GPO) forasolution.
GPO inspector Abdur Rashid who was tasked to submit a repWt to the higher authorities whether the allegation was true, had asked Badal to prove his innocence.
Badal did not show up but sent Rashid the tax money and a fine of Tk6,750 fornot recording it.
Sources said not only Badal, some other officials at different post offices, are also involved in such corruption.
"The tax has been paid with default fine and the case Is settled," said Mirza Shah Alam, who dealt with the situation on behalf of Anwar AIL
He said, "It is just the tip of the iceberg. Anwar is among the very few who have been able to recover the embezzled money.
"There are hundretls of people who are facing similar problems everyday and rushing to the respective post office to check whether the payment was recorded."
Md Abdus Samad Khan, resident of Mirpur, and AK Azad, an official from Agargaon, are two other victims. They are making visits to the BRIA, post offices, GPO and other places to prove their claims and recover the money.
Private transport owners usually pay the tax through their drivers, other employees or relatives and in
many cases the drivers are fired for not paying the money.
"But the accused in many cases were not responsible," said a GPO official.
There are several cliques at different post offices and the BREA and it is very difficult to identify the culprits, sources said.
Asked, a top GPO official: who handled Anwar All's case admitted the misappropriation, saying Badal misappropriated Tk 4,545 in this case but had to pay the tax and fines.
"There are many allegations against him and we are trying to solve these cases. If he is suspended now, the victims would not be able to recover their money," the official said askingnottobe identified.
Badal was found taking rest on the floor at his present workplace. "He is very sick and can't talk to anyone. You have to wait if you have anything to tell him." one of his colleagues told The Daily Star at the sub-post office adjacent to the IttefaqBhaban.
Some of his victims arestill going to his office to get their cases settled, the colleagues said.
"Anybody may become victim any time if the government allows these things to continue," said Abdus Samad.