Section 108 customs statements can serve as substantive evidence in confiscation and penalty proceedings.

A statement recorded before customs officials under Section 108 of the Customs Act is distinct from a Section 161 CrPC statement and may be used as substantive evidence in customs proceedings. Where the statement clearly implicates the maker and the person against whom it is relied on, it can connect that person with the contravention without being confined to corroborative use under Section 30 of the Evidence Act. On that basis, the statement was admissible against the petitioner, and the confiscation and penalty were sustained.

---

---

Issues: Whether the statement recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act could be relied upon as substantive evidence against the petitioner to sustain confiscation of foreign exchange and imposition of penalty.

Analysis: A statement made before customs officials under Section 108 of the Customs Act is not a statement recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Such a statement is material evidence collected in customs proceedings and may be used to connect a person with the contravention when it clearly inculpates both the maker and the person against whom it is used. The statement was held to be admissible as substantive evidence in the customs proceedings, and not confined merely to corroboration under Section 30 of the Indian Evidence Act.

Conclusion: The statement was rightly used against the petitioner, and the confiscation and penalty were sustained.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the customs adjudication failed, and the order of confiscation and penalty remained undisturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: A statement recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act may, in appropriate customs proceedings, be relied upon as substantive evidence to establish contravention and is not governed by the evidentiary limitations applicable to statements recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

---