Reliable and corroborative evidence is required to support...

Reliable and corroborative evidence is required to support allegations that duty-free imports under a DEEC licence were diverted and that fraudulent exports were made. Official export documentation, manufacturing confirmation, export-proceeds realisation and a criminal-court-accepted closure report were treated as material circumstances; suspicion, unreconciled gaps and uncorroborated assertions could not establish diversion. A duty demand cannot be confirmed on classification, product-description or licence-amendment grounds absent from the show cause notice. Retracted or inconsistent Customs Act statements require independent corroboration and compliance with statutory safeguards. Where the alleged fraud lacks evidentiary support, penalties for abetment or connivance lack an independent foundation. The duty demand, interest and penalties were set aside.