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2020 (2) TMI 235 - AT - CustomsImposition of redemption fine and penalty - mis-declaration of ‘country of origin’ of goods in the bills of entry - import of Bitumen - prohibited goods or not - HELD THAT:- In the present case there is no dispute that the impugned goods i.e., bitumen is not prohibited goods either under the Customs Act or Foreign Trade Policy or any other law in force at the time of importation of goods and the Customs in the show cause notice has admitted this fact. It is also a fact that there is no prohibition of impugned goods from Iran either under the Customs Act or Foreign Trade Policy - Further, the only allegation against the appellant in the present case is that in the bill of entry filed by them, they have wrongly mentioned the ‘country of origin’ as “UAE” whereas in fact the ‘country of origin’ is from Iran - After perusal of various statements made by the various persons during the course of investigation including that of the appellant, it is found that nobody has spoken against the appellant that the appellant is in any way involved in the manipulation of changing the ‘country of origin’ documents. The appellant has filed the bill of entry and showed the ‘country of origin’ as “UAE” on the basis of documents supplied to him by the supplier based at UAE. Further no document has been produced by Revenue on record to show the involvement of appellant in any way in the said mis-declaration. Further, in the present case the appellant has not claimed any preferential rate of duty. After examining the provisions of Section 111(d) and 111(m), it is found that both the provisions are not applicable in the fact and circumstances of this case. Further, no mala fides has been brought on record on the part of appellant so as to impose penalties on the appellant under Section 112(a) and Section 114AA of the Customs Act, 1962. Appeal allowed - decided in favor of appellant.
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