TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (3) TMI 473
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....H/2005 dated : 30-9-05 arising out of Show Causes Notice No. DRI. F. No. 23/132/2002-DZU dated 30-12-2003 issued in the case M/s. Unicorn Industries - Prop : Sri Tejwant Singh which exported overvalued Microphones Appeal No. Appellant & Respondent Consequence of Adjudication C/997/05 Tejwant Singh v. CC New Delhi Fine Rs. 5.00 lakhs for the export made overvaluing goods, duty liability in respect imports made by transferees of DEPB scrips obtained fraudulently, Fine and penalty for the goods confiscated and interest on the amount of liability unpaid. C/53/06 Rajiv Kumar Sharma v. CC New Delhi Penalty of Rs. 10,00,000/- u/s 114 of Customs Act, 1962. C/56/06 Jagmohan Singh v. CC New Delhi Penalty of Rs. 50,00,000/- u/s 114 of Customs Act, 1962. C/591/06 CC New Delhi v. V. Valte No penalty imposed C/416/09 CC New Delhi v. G.S. Sohal No penalty imposed C/417/09 CC New Delhi v. B.K. Pabri No penalty imposed 2. Order of Adjudication No. 6-9/HKM/CC/DRI/NCH/2005 dated : 31-10-05 arising out of Show Causes Notice No. DRI. F No. 23/137/2002-DZU dated 30-12-2003 issued in the case of M/s. Bonita Industries - Pro....
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....were Sri Valte, who was a Dy. Commissioner, Sri Sohal was an Inspector and Sri Pabri was a Superintendent and they being exonerated from charges in Adjudication proceeding, Revenue came in appeal against them. 6. All these appeals arose out of common cause of action of all 3 (three) exporters. Overvalued Microphones were exported by M/s. Unicorn Industries whose proprietor Sri Tejwant Singh by order of Adjudication No. 05/HKM/CC/DRI/NCH/2005 dated 30-9-2005, export of Fuel Pump Diaphragm made by M/s. Bonita Industries - Prop: Sri Rajeevan Thouvan Kandathil, dealt by order of Adjudication No. 06-09/HKM/CC/DRI/NCH/2005 dated 31-10-2005 and Microphone and Fuel Pump Diaphragm exported by M/s. Chhabra Industries - Proprietor Sri Narinder Pal Singh involved in order of Adjudication 02/GS/CC/DRI/NCH/2005, dated 30-12-2005 30-10-2005 (sic). 7. In all the 3 (three) Adjudications, charge was misdeclaration of value of goods by over valuation thereof so as to fraudulently claim higher DEPB credits of Rs. 1,68,92,208 by M/s. Unicorn Industries, Rs. 2,14,86,300/- by M/s. Bonita Industries and Rs. 2,98,03,509/- by M/s. Chhabra Industreis and the DEPB credits so availed were transferred to ....
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....lakhs Rs. 59,60,735 Honda Siel Car Mfg. Co. Ltd. Rs. 14,99,945 Rs. 1.50 lakhs Rs. 14,99,945 Loss of duty caused by use of fraudulent DEPB credits covered by order of Adjudication No. 2/GS/CC/DRI/NCH/2005 dated : 30-12-05 arising out of Show Cause Notice No. DRI. F No. 23/133/2002-DZU dated 30-12-2003 issued in the case M/s. Chhabra Industries - Prop : Narinder Pal Singh which exported overvalued Microphones and Fuel Pump Diaphragms Name of the Importer Loss of Duty recoverable from Exporter Sri Narinder Pal Singh due to use of DEPB credits fraudulently obtained Fine Imposed on the Exporter Sri Narinder Pal Singh Penalty imposed on the Exporter Sri Narinder Pal Singh ACI Computer (I) Ltd Rs. 42,60,194 No fine imposed Rs. 42,60,194 K.L.J. Plasticizers Rs. 6,78,739 -do- Rs. 6,78,739 Silvasa Plasticizers Rs. 20,26,227 -do- Rs. 20,26,227 L.G. Electronics Systems Ltd. Rs. 27,65,605 -do- Rs. 27,65,605 Honda Siel Car Mfq. Co. Ltd. Rs. 66,72,876 -do- Rs. 66,72,876 Adani Exports. Rs. 1,80,95,847 -do- Rs. 1,80,95,847 8. It was observed in the adjudication process that DEPB Scheme....
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....rder of Adjudication in the case of M/s. Unicorn Industries Prop : Sri Tejwant Singh 10. Investigating officers came across certain exports of ready made garments made by one Shri Tejwant Singh, prop of M/s. Unicorn Industries, E-35-A, Basement, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi through Air Cargo Complex, New Delhi and noticed that through such exports, he had fraudulently availed large amounts of export incentives under various export promotion schemes such as Duty Entitlement Pass Book Scheme (DEPB), Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme, EPCG) Drawback and Duty Free Replenishment Certificate (DFRC) and one Sanjay Kumar representative of M/s. Vetri Impex (CHA) had handled the export consignments of Tejwant Singh. Investigation was conducted at the Air Cargo Complex, New Delhi and it was found that M/s. Unicorn Industries, New Delhi had exported several consignments of microphones/cordless microphones/fuel pump diaphragms to M/s. Omid Trade Links, 1411, S. Maple Avenue, Los Angels, C 90015 USA and readymade garments to M/s. Tanweer Trading Dubai during November, 2000 to April, 2001 claiming benefits under various export promotion schemes. 11. Scrutiny of the related export documents....
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....2, 24840 and 1460 to 1469 as mentioned above. 20 out of these scrips were utilized by various importers for imports and payment of duty through debits in such scrips documents. Such acts called for issue of show cause notice No. DRI. F. No. 23/132/2002-DZU Dated : 30-12-2003 covering 26 shipping bills (Nos. 24608 to 24612, 24840, 443 to 452 and 1460 to 1469 as detailed in Annexure A to the show cause notice) wherein DEPB credit of Rs. 1,67,55,800/- had been claimed, availed and sold to the (9) nine different importers as detailed in the Annexures C and D to the show cause notice. 23 shipping bills wherein DEPB credit had not been utilized were dealt issuing separate show cause notice DRI F. No. 23/132/2002-DZU dated 31-3-2003. 12. The export documents examined by Investigating Authority revealed that :- (i) Bank of Punjab Ltd, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi had been declared as the forex bank by the Unicorn in their export documents; (ii) the Unicorn had declared their factory premises to be located at C-197/1A, Mayapuri Industrial Area, New Delhi; (iii) &nb....
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....nt from US Customs enquiry report that Banka Singh had taken delivery of the goods exported form India at a value which was grossly lower than the value declared in India. (5) Tejwant Singh succeeded in perpetrating fraud in active collusion and connivance of Jag Mohan Singh and Sanjay Kumar, who acted as the CHA and provided all the required assistance to Tejwant Singh. (6) Tejwant Singh was also assisted by Rajeev Kumar Sharma, Inspector and B.K. Pabri, Superintendent of Customs who connived by endorsing examination reports and giving let export orders on the shipping bills though these two officers were not posted at the warehouse where the goods covered by those shipping bills were kept. (7) No market enquiry for the price of the goods exported under shipping bills (Annexure A) was conducted. The files pertaining to market enquiry were not made available to the DRI by the office of Dy. Commissioner of Customs (Exports). The disappearance of relevant files, verification as to the existence of a non-existence factory and fake market enquiries by I....
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....y and value of the goods which were sold in the open market for utilization. The credit benefits availed by the different importers toward import duty became recoverable from them under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. Cause of action of order of Adjudication in the case of M/s. Bonita Industries - Proprietor : Sri Rajeevan Thouvan Kandathil 14. Investigating Officers came across certain export of cheap quality automotive parts, viz, fuel pump diaphragms made by one M/s. Bonita Industries - Proprietor Sri Rajeevan Thouvan Kandathil, G-22/1A Rajouri Garden, New Delhi through Air Cargo Complex, New Delhi, and large amounts of export incentives were availed by that concern under Duty Entitlement Pass Book Scheme (DEPB) and Drawback Scheme. It was found by them that one Tejwant Singh who was also the proprietor of M/s. Unicorn Industries, E-35A, Basement Rajouri Garden, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as "the Unicorn") was the main mastermind behind all these fraudulent exports. 15. Enquiry made to the Air Cargo Complex, New Delhi revealed that M/s. Bonita Industries, G-22/1A Rajouri Garden, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as "the Bonita") had exported several co....
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....ade to trace out the samples and files concerned with the case were in vain. Action was taken to inform all concerned field formations to prevent utilization of benefits against exports made by M/s. Bonita Industries. The originals of the shipping bills of M/s. Bonita Industries were also not provided by the Custom Authorities and only photocopies were provided. 19. Overseas enquiries conducted revealed that in the case of export of fuel pump diaphragms (shipping bill No. 6180 to 6199 dated 24-3-2001), there was gross over-invoicing as the value declared before Indian Customs was US$ 34.99 per piece and the value declared before US Customs was only US$ 0.59 per piece. The enquiries conducted with the US Customs revealed that delivery of all the goods, i.e. fuel pump diaphragms exported under shipping bills mentioned against Sl. No. 1 to 2 of the above table, had been taken by one Banka Singh of Los Angeles, California, USA. Cause of action of order of Adjudication in the case of M/s. Chhabra Industries -proprietor : Sri Narinder Pal Singh 20. Investigating Officers came across certain export of cheap quality automotive parts, viz. fuel pump diaphragms and cordless micropho....
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....ed that the account of the above said firm i.e. the Chhabra was operated by Narinder Pal Singh, the proprietor of the firm. The Bank of Punjab Ltd., Rajori Garden and Punjab National Bank, Inland Container Depot, Tughlakabad/Container Freight Station, Patparganj/New Customs House, New Delhi (the bank designated by the department for the purpose of maintaining drawback account) were requested to stop all withdrawals by M/s. Chhabbra Industries. Director General of Foreign Trade, New Delhi was also informed about the fraudulent exports made by M/s. Chhabra Industries and was requested not to allow any benefits against their exports. DGFT had accordingly issued show cause notice to M/s. Chhabra on 22-4-2002 for cancellation of DEPB licences issued to them. 24. Search of residential premises of Sri Narinder Pal Singh, Proprietor M/s. Chabra Industries at J-11/18, Raouri Garden, New Delhi and office premises of M/s. Chabra Industries at G-22/1, Rajouri Garden was conducted on 17-8-2001 under Section 108 of Customs Act, 1962. Oral evidence was recorded on 17-8-2001 under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962 from Smt. Balbir Kaur mother of Narinder Pal Singh in which she stated that he....
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....T. 446. It was also submitted that confiscation of goods exported by the appellant was not proper when those were not physically available. No redemption fine was imposable for the export. Export proceed having been realised, there was no case of over invoicing or misdeclaration made by the appellant. Therefore there was no question of denial of DEPB benefit to the appellant following the decision of Apex Court in the case of CC. v. Vishal Exports Overseas Ltd. - 2007 (209) E.L.T. 331 (S.C.) and as held by Tribunal in the case of Rekognation v. CC - 2009 (235) E.L.T. 310, Mercantile India v. CC, Chennai - 2007 (214) E.L.T. 540, Guru Nanak Exports v. CC - 2007 (215) E.L.T. 277, CC v. Crown International - 2006 (203) E.L.T. 120 and Indo Export House v. CCE - 2004 (168) E.L.T. 142. Customs Duty cannot be demanded from exporter against imports made by transferees of DEPB credit following decision of Hon'ble High Court of Bombay in the case of CC. v. Jupiter Exports - 2007 (213) 641 (Bom.). DEPB credit was not wrongfully availed by the appellant since show cause notice does not state the section under which disallowance of the said credit shall be done following decision of Tribunal in ....
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....t abetted commitment of the offence alleged against Exporters. He was not a CHA and never acted as such. He was neither "G" card holder nor "H" card holder and had no access to customs area. He was never involved in examination, processing of the documents of export or arranged for inspection of goods. He had not involved himself in the exports. He being neighbour of Sri Tejwant Singh cannot be implicated to charges without any basis of connivance and conspiracy with exporters to cause loos to revenue by any unreasonable claim of DEPB Credits. He was no way connected with procurement of goods by exporters. None of the statements recorded has implicated the appellant. None of the ingredients of Section 114 being present, the appellant is not liable to penalty. Submissions on behalf of respondent Sri V. Valte 29. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent Sri V. Valte submitted that the said Respondent Officer had not made any conspiracy against Revenue. None of the statements recorded from other Officer as well as Exporter and CHA has established mala fide of this respondent. The Respondent had not deliberately engaged any officer to examine export made by any of th....
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.... quotation negated the charge against the Respondent, he is not liable to penalty. The Respondent had not made any premeditated enquiry to cause abetment of the offence. There was no secret agreement came to record through show cause notice to penalise the Respondent. The Respondent being a Govt. servant is entitled to immunity having acted on good faith and that was granted in adjudication. Submissions on behalf of Revenue 32. It was submitted on behalf of Revenue that the masterminded Appellant Sri Tejwant Singh created all dummy concerns under different names made overvalued export of bogus goods which was not only proved from the oral evidence gathered from various persons but documentary evidence corroborated the statements recorded. His export through 3 (three) concerns proved to be bogus and overseas enquiry confirmed overvaluation resulting in defrauding Revenue and DEPB credits were fraudulently claimed as well the same transferred to different importers for undue gain with the help of Respondent Officers in these batches of appeals. 33. Market enquiry revealed the truth relating to price of Microphone when he failed to disclose identity of Sri Sudhir who was clai....
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....s being associated with each other allowed the export by their misconduct and ill intent. Their activities were prejudicial to the interest of Revenue. 38. Adjudications were done following due process of law. Natural justice was not denied to any body. Retraction of oral evidence tendered was baseless when the confession was corroborated by overwhelming direct and circumstantial evidence. The exporters were bound to make good of losses made to Revenue by them against imports made by transferee importers using fraudulent DEPB credits transferred to them. 39. When fraud was established that has unravelled all. Revenue's stand is fortified from the Apex Court judgment in the case of UOI v. Jain Shudh Vanaspati Ltd. - 1996 (86) E.L.T. 460 (S.C.). So also fraud nullifies every thing as held by Apex Court in CC v. Candid Enterprises - 2001 (130) E.L.T. 404 (S.C.) and in the case of Delhi Development Authority v. Skipper Construction Company (P) Ltd - AIR 1996 (SC) 2005. Cheating has been done to claim undue claim of DEPB Credit. There was fraud committed by exporters and such fraud avoid all judicial acts, ecclesiastical or temporal and the exporters had no title to transfer the D....
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....d show cause notice following principles of natural justice and they were afforded reasonable opportunity of defence through hearing. Plea of no cross examination allowed and result of investigation not exposed are mere dilatory tactics to avoid consequence of law. Nexus of the parties, their intimate connection with each other promoted fraudulent export proving all probabilities of commitment of the offence by the appellants and Respondents causing evasion of duty and that was successfully proved by investigation. 42. Nothing demonstrates that the Authority below merely acted on imagination. The moment offending goods were found to be mis-declared and proved so by investigation on the reasonable belief that those were inferior in quality, but overvalued and procured from bogus sources; burden of proof that those were not inferior and not overvalued was squarely on the person who exported the same. Such burden was not discharged by the appellants who were intimately connected with each other and suppressed entire fact of illegal deal till search operation detected the same. Following the ratio laid down by Apex Court in the case of C. Sampath Kumar v. The Enforcement Officer, 19....
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....t at J-10/1, Rajouri Garden, as well as to the residential premises of Shri Jagmohan Singh situated at J-7/86, Second Floor, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi, revealed that he was helping Shri Tejwant Singh for clearance of his export consignments actively and was well connected with him by virtue of his acquaintance not ruled out by any evidence led. Further search made to the premises situated at C-197/A-1 and A-2, Mayapuri Industrial Estate, Phase II, New Delhi which was declared in the export documents as factory of M/s. Unicorn Industries and the premises situated at A-1/18, Mohan Garden, New Delhi which was declared to be office premises in the documents submitted, resulted with the finding that such premises was not in occupation of M/s. Unicorn Industries. But that premises was under occupation of some other individuals/entities. As a result of which declarations made in the export documents were found to be false and such result of enquiry remained uncontroverted by the Appellant Sri Tejwant Singh. 47. It was found in the course of Investigation that one Shri Harbans Singh was owner of the premises C/197-1-A, at Mayapuri Industrial Area, Phase II, New Delhi. In his oral eviden....
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.... knew one Shri Banka Singh who used to send readymade garments to M/s. Tanweer Trading. Shri Banka Singh and his brother Shri Sachdeva Singh created a firm in the name of M/s. Bonita Industries giving the address at G-22/A, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi and signatures of Shri Rajeevan of Chennai was taken to obtain IEC number and to open current account in the Bank of Punjab, Rajouri garden, New Delhi. After that, Shri Rajeevan was sent back to Chennai to look after the business of garment of M/s. Cotton Club, M/s. Automotive Industries Associates, M/s. Unicorn Industries and M/s. Megha Industrial Group at Chennai. Only he knew was that he was Proprietor of M/s. Bonita Industries for name sake only. Such evidence against the Appellant Sri Tejwant Singh all along remained unassailed. Neither appeal of this concern nor the proprietor of that concern came up before Tribunal while hearing aforesaid 3 (three) batches of appeal. 50. From the statement recorded from Shri Sanjay Kumar who rendered the services as CHA in respect of exports covered by the shipping bills mentioned in Annexure A to Show Cause Notice on 12-7-2001, it came to light that he was holding a 'G' Card and acted as clea....
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....ike worth US $ 39.85. Shri Sanjay Kumar was informed by Shri Tejwant Singht that prior contact was made with Shri Rajeev Kumar Sharma, Inspector. A meeting of all these 3 (three) persons was also held at Parikarma Restaurant at Connaught Place New Delhi. Shri Sanjay Kumar and Shri Tejwant Singh had secret talks with settlement known to them for processing of export. Two letter heads of different firms were given to him by Shri Tejwant Singh. He stated that as far as he remembers there was a hand writing on the letter head reading as "To whomsoever it may concern "one person Shri Rajeev Kumar Sharma came to me with the samples of Microphones of CHEVAL T.M. I confirm the price of this microphone as Rs. 800/- to Rs. 900/-". The letter heads were kept by Shri Rajeev Kumar Sharma Inspector for use. It was also stated by Shri Sanjay Kumar that Shri Rajeev Kumar Sharma handed over him the copies of shipping bills endorsed with the stamp of "Final Assessment". Both the documents were handed over by him to Shri Tejwant Singh. Entire procedure of customs clearance in respect of the firms of Shri Tejwant Singh was done by Shri Rajeev Kumar Sharma himself and after the formalities were complet....
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....ersonally look after each and every aspect of export and personally making arrangements for customs clearance and arrangement of CHA. It was confirmed by Shri Jagmohan Singh that Shri Tejwant Singh had good relationship with Shri Rajiv Kumar Sharma, Inspector. 53. On subsequent occasion against the summons dated 21-1-2001, 14-1-2002, 13-6-2002 and 23-7-2002, Shri Jagmohan Singh did not appear to give evidence. For his failure to do so, a complaint was filed before the Court of learned AC.MM Patiala House Court, New Delhi. Non-bailable warrant was issued against him. Red alert was also issued by DRI. But he did not appear. 54. To examine the various aspects that came out from oral evidence recorded from different premises owners and CHA, summons were issued to Shri Tejwant Singh on various dates as exhibited in para 20 of order in original No. 05 dated 30th September, 2005. Evidence was recorded from Shri Tejwant Singh on three dates i.e. 22-8-2001, 5-11-2001 and 6-11-2001. Thereafter he did not appear before the Investigating Agency. Accordingly, red alert was issued by DRI on 27-11-2002. He was also arrested on 6-11-2001. 55. In the statement recorded on 22-8-2001, Shri T....
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....ri Tejwant Sigh did not give address of Shri Sudhir for examination. He confirmed that there was no machinery installed for manufacture of microphones in the premises in Mayapuri or at any other premises. All the aforesaid six firms had no manufacturing facility for manufacture of microphones. He stated that all the five concerns namely M/s. Chhabra Industries, M/s. Oberoi Industries, M/s. Bonita Industries, M/s. Oxford Fashions and M/s. Skyways Industries were all Proprietorship firms on paper. He was investing money in all these concerns. He did not rule out his involvement in the export of microphones through these proprietorship concerns. He also confirmed that he was taking help of Shri Jagmohan Singh his neighbour who issued Airway Bills for cargo clearance. 58. As regards Fuel Pump diaphragms exported by M/s. Bonita Industries and M/s. Chhabra Industries, Sri Tejwant Singh in his oral evidence recorded on 22-8-2001 stated that he had controlled these business concerns and those goods were manufactured in the basement of his residence and that workshop was not registered with Central Excise Authority. But in his oral evidence recorded on 5-11-2001 he denied carrying out of....
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....isclosed information about value of the goods exported. Shri Anil Sexena confirmed that he was engaged in the manufacture of microphones at his residence only. He confirmed the call details procured by the investigation which showed that he was in conversation with Shri Tejwant Singh. The kit of Rs. 6 per piece in respect of 50,000 kits was subject matter of export. Shri Anil Sexena in his statement dated 16-12-2002 confirmed about the cost of manufacture of the kit which was Rs. 6/- per kit and Rs. 2.50 for Wire of Microphone and Rs. 2/- as labour charges. The supply price of the Microphone was Rs. 16.50 per piece. Around 60,000 to 70,000 pieces of Microphones at the rate of Rs. 16.50 were supplied by him to Shri Tejwant Singh. This piece of evidence remained uncontroverted and fully established the case against the master minded Sri Tejwant Singh. 62. Revenue being satisfied that Shri V. Valte, Deputy Commissioner, Shri B.P. Pabri, Superintendent and Shri Gurinder Singh Sohal Inspector of Customs were involved in the export racket, examined them. 63. Deputy Commissioner, Shri V. Valte was examined on 5-9-2001 and his statement was recorded. He stated that he joined as Deput....
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....iven any instructions to these two officers to look after the provisional cases for examination, "let exports", market enquiry and finalization of those provisional assessments. 65. Shri Valte in his oral evidence dated 31-3-2003 stated that the high value of items of M/s. Unicorn Industries and its sister concerns were provisionally assessed as no previous exports of the same products were noticed and pending verification of the declared prices through market enquiries, exports were allowed. When the Appraising officer stated for provisional assessment on the basis of previous shipment done during the last week of December 2000 such assessment was done since the goods were exported to a non-sensitive destination. He had no occasion to doubt mis-declaration and in absence of any information of wrong doing by his officers as well as suspicious nature of the consignments. Action of his officers was not possible to be questioned in absence of any material. 66. In order to find out the status of the lost files, one Appraiser Shri A.K. Bhatnagar of Air Cargo (Export), New Delhi was examined on 17-9-2001. He stated that when he examined the shipping bills of M/s. Unicorn Industries....
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....ajeev Kumar Sharma used to go for market enquiry and put up the enquiry report on file. 68. When role of Shri Rajeev Kumar Sharma, Inspector and Respondent in these three batches of appeal came out from the evidence recorded from various persons referred to in the orders of adjudication that officer was examined. He was Inspector at the material time and was working in the Export Section of Air Cargo Complex, New Delhi. He was examined on 12-10-2001. He stated that from July, 2000, to 23rd June 2001 he was posted in Air Cargo Complex and he was entrusted with the duty of processing shipping bills and conduct of market enquiry. He further stated that he had conducted market enquiry in relation to microphones/fuel pump diaphragms exported by M/s. Unicorn Industries, M/s. Chhabra Industries, M/s. Bonita Industries, M/s. Oberoi Industries and M/s. Skyways Industries, on the instructions of Supdt. Shri B.K. Pabri he was examining the consignments of these concerns. He stated that he knew Shri Tejwant Singh and his acquaintance with him began when he went to verify the genuineness of the exporter M/s. Unicorn Industries in Mayapuri Industrial area address as appearing in the shipping ....
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....lectronics in his statement recorded on 8-10-2001 stated that the normal range of ordinary microphone sold by them was Rs. 75/- to Rs. 1,50,000/- per piece and cordless microphones were available with them for Rs. 5,000/- to Rs. 1,50,000/- per piece. They only give quotation for the goods they deal. He denied to have seen any OTL brand cordless microphones and stated that they never deal with those goods. He also stated that no quotation for OTL brand cordless microphone was issued by them. 71. Shri A.J. Gupta, Proprietor of M/s. Chitra Electronics stated that he was trading in all types of microphones and cordless microphones. The price of ordinary microphone ranged from Rs.10 per piece to Rs. 10,000/- per piece. He narrated nature of the goods of both categories of prices. He stated that technology for manufacturing kits of cordless microphones was not available in India and he had never traded in or seen any OTL-CDL-988 brand cordless microphone which was not available in the market for sale. He further stated that 6-7 months back two persons came to his shop and told him that they were suppliers of such kind of goods to some Government departments and asked him to prepare a ....
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....successful endangering Revenue. Abetment and connivance of the conduits facilitated export causing loss to Revenue. Oral evidence gathered remained unrebutted. Intimate and close nexus of each other became patent from the modus operandi adopted by the exporters with the conscious knowledge and deliberate intention to let export the overvalued goods. 76. Deceitful commitment surfaced with echoed evidence against the exporters and abettors. Ill designed racket came to light by Investigation. There was no fault found with investigation and process of investigation remained unchallenged except baseless pleas of violation of natural justice and flimsy plea of retraction of evidence when result of ill design brought the associates to the grave of offence committed under law and confessional were well corroborated. Acts of the appellants called for their trial in criminal court for which complaint was also filed by revenue. Nothing came out to the rescue of the appellants in absence of their bona fide. Series of acts of appellant and chain of evidence gathered by investigation proved ill intent and close association of exporters with the abettors. No circumstantial or direct evidence w....
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....ause notice on the basis of evidence gathered by Revenue against the appellants was sufficient opportunity granted for rebuttal. Revenue discharged its onus of proof and burden of proof remained undischarged by appellants. They failed to lead their evidence to rule out their role in the offence committed and prove their case with clean hands. 80. Materials on record revealed that neither investigation nor process of investigation was challenged to be perverse or futile. Modus operandi of the group proved to be mala fide due to various dubious practices adopted and secret arrangements made by them to conceal source of procurement. Benami transactions came to light. What was apparent was not proved to be real. Chain of evidence established nexus of the persons involved and goods exported, to serve their ill will. Reasonable belief of Investigation followed by search brought entire deliberate acts and omissions of appellants to the fold of law. Nexus of each other and their close proximity to the goods exported and fraudulent claim of DEPB made came to light by niceties of investigation. 81. Crystal clear factual findings of the learned Adjudicating Authority and echoing evidenc....