Govt. loses billions over misclassification of imports, importers urge President to take action

By Kelum Bandara   

The government is reportedly losing billions of rupees in revenue due to the misclassification of high Customs duty items as low-duty items to evade proper payments, and this has prompted the Association of Essential Commodities Importers and Traders to seek intervention from President Anura Kumara Dissanayake for a resolution.   

The representatives of the Association met with the new President recently and put forward the request in this regard among others.   

A spokesman for the Association told Daily Mirror that even banned items flood the Pettah wholesale market evading the customs authorities and the amount netted by the law enforcement authorities at times is only a tip of the iceberg.   He said even turmeric banned from import is available.    The Association said it always stands by the government to fight against bureaucratic hurdles and under-invoicing for the supply of essential items at competitive rates in the local market.  

Besides, the Association requested the President to rescind the decision by the previous Cabinet to cancel the Special Commodity Levy.   “It is levy calculated based on the quantity of items imported but not the value. The last government decided to scrap it effective from January 1,2025. We requested the President not to do it because it, otherwise, leaves room for fraudulent elements to under-invoice the value of imports to evade due payments, he said .