Customs broker licensing breach findings based on recorded statements held unsustainable; penalty and forfeiture order set aside

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....Central issue: whether administrative findings of breaches of Customs Broker Licensing Regulations (10(d), 10(e), 10(m), 10(f), 13(12)) and consequent penalty/forfeiture could stand where they rested on recorded statements. Reasoning: recorded statements under section 108 were neither admitted as evidence nor were declarants summoned/examined, and therefore are irrelevant under section 138D and inadmissible under section 138B; the statements were also not relied upon in the show-cause notice. Outcome: findings of regulatory violation and attendant penalty/forfeiture are unsustainable and the impugned order is set aside. - CESTAT....