In Tirupur, a garment export unit has been defrauded as the culprits stole away Rs. 7.5 lakh from the account opened in the company name in a bank after a cheque was credited by Customs Department, Tuticorin for the long pending duty drawback amount due to the exporting unit.
The police has arrested two members of the fraudulent gang in Tuticorin, although the main culprit is still absconding. Further investigation is going on to find who all are involved in this fraudulent activity.
As per the information available, the Customs Department is withholding the drawback amount in-case the exporting units had not submitted sufficient details or the presence of defects in the submitted details and due to which, the drawback amount is pending in some cases of shipments made even before 10 years also and only after correcting the defects/submission of required details, the Customs Department used to issue a cheque without making direct transaction to authorised dealer’s bank.
The fraudulent person after giving a letter along with fake documents and receiving the cheque had been to Indian Overseas Bank Branch at Tuticorin and had deposited the cheque in the company account. Then he opened an account in another bank at Tuticorin by using a fake Udyog Aadhaar in the name of concerned Tirupur exporting company and made it appear cleverly that there is a branch of the company in Tuticorin. Subsequently, he transferred the amount to the new bank, withdrew the amount and left.
The export house got to know about the fraud when it received a cheque book from Tuticorin bank through a courier and the bank in Tuticorin was contacted and started investigating the fraud.
K.M. Subramanian, President, Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) informed that after receiving a complaint from the member on the issue, immediately, the TEA arranged a lawyer to assist the member and the Commissioner of Police was also contacted to give appropriate instructions including a complaint and take a further action.
He said it was a normal practice of crediting the drawback amount at Indian Overseas Bank Branch, Tuticorin and thereafter the amount was being transferred to the authorized bank account of the exporters. Nowadays, funds are credited directly to authorised bank accounts and by following this practice, there is no chance of fraud taking place, since multiple layers of security exist in the process.
Realising that many of exporters’ refunds which had been pending in the Tuticorin Customs Department were also given as cheques, TEA association immediately contacted the Tuticorin Customs Department official and requested to share the details of this fraud and asked for the details of the cheques given in the last 6 months.
