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2015 (11) TMI 548 - AT - CustomsAvailment of fraudulent duty drawback claim - Fabrication and forging of documents - Imposition of penalties - Held that:- Initially Shri B S Chauhan admitted that the signatures on the shipping bills bearing examination reports were his. He also stated that he had given the examination report on the basis of goods shown to him by the CHA but denied having received any money. It is indeed strange that although the Customs investigating agency had specimens of handwriting when the statements of Shri Chauhan were recorded in March April 96 there is no evidence that the handwriting expert s opinion was taken at that stage. If it was taken the same was not made available to Shri Chauhan who requested for it vide his letter dated 05.03.07. The case of the department is based on the statement of Shri GS Kohli. He deposed that Shri R S Singh (the employer of Shri Balbir Singh) had told to Shri GS Kohli that according to Balbir Singh, Appraise Shri B S Chauhan would give examination reports as desired by them . At the same time the fact is that Shri GS Kohli and Shri R S Singh themselves never discussed any issue with Shri Chauhan. Therefore as held by the adjudicating authority, the next logical step for investigation shoul have been to examine Shri R.S. Singh and Shri Balbir Singh. But this was not done. More so when the Department did not examine Balbir Singh who is supposed to have met B S Chauhan. Therefore the statement of Shri GS Kohli is beyond secondary evidence and cannot be relied upon in the face of judicial pronouncements discussed in paras above. In the facts and circumstances the allegation against Shri BS Chauhan is based merely on hearsay evidence in the form of a statement dated 08.08 1995 of Shri GS Kohli. - case established by Revenue does not even meet the standards of proof in a civil case. The case is full of flaws. It is not explained why for many years Revenue did not get the handwriting of the accused verified by the handwriting expert. This is especially so when Shri GS Kohli admittedly forged the signatures of all other agencies such as banks, steamer agents, RBI, DGFT etc. In such circumstances the preponderance of probability is that Shri GS Kohli had forged the signatures of Shri Chauhan too. Further department is taking a contradictory stand as far as the statement of Shri Chauhan is concerned. When Shri G S Kohli and Shri R S Singh (employee of Shri Balbir Singh) themselves had never discussed any issue with Shri BS Chauhan. Therefore we hold that Revenue has not been able to counter the logical reasoning and analysis by the Commissioner in absolving Shri B.S. Chauhan of the charges. - once it was found by an investigating agency that the statement of Sh. G.S. Kohli was not a good enough evidence to allege some of the officers implicated by him, the same could not have been made basis for others to establish charges against them, more so when no reasoning have been given for such different treatment for different officers. - no good reason to differ with the Order and uphold the same in dropping penalty against Shri. Pamnani. - department has not proved the case with any degree of certaint. We hold that penalty cannot be imposed on Shri. Balbir Singh. As regards Shipping Bills showing the CHA as Pal India Shipping Agency, he categorically stated that the signatures were not that of Manohar Badheka. Both Shri. Quereshi and Badheka have denied that the relevant S/Bills bear their signature. The department should have taken the help of handwriting experts, more so when so many documents and signatures were found to have been forged by the Shri. G.S. Kohli. We do not appreciate that department proposes to fix responsibility on these persons without caring to verify whether the signatures on the S/B’s were theirs. Shri. Quereshi stated that when Shri. G.S. Kohli and Shri. R.S. Singh had forged signatures of so many officers of Customs, Banks and Steamer Agents they could have forged his(Quereshi’s) signatures as a CHA on these fabricated S/bills. The absence of any evidence to prove that Shri. Quereshi and Shri. Badhekar had indeed filed the S/Bills, the penalty on them is clearly not sustainable. - Decided against Revenue.
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