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TMI Blog2011 (6) TMI 639X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt, committed by erstwhile United Western Bank which was taken over by IDBI Bank during 2003-04. Shri Ravinder Rajurkar was an employee of the said United Western Bank and was handling matters relating to the irregularities involved and presently he is an employee of IDBI Bank which took over his previous employer. 2. A case was made by Revenue against three merchant exporters in the name and style of M/s. G & S International, New Delhi and M/s. A's Raj International and M/s. Shreya Overseas, New Delhi that they made fraudulent exports of Shawls and Readymade Garments to CIS countries via UAE and claimed DEPB benefit to the tune of 9.67 crores and drawback benefit of Rs. 1.88 crores. The allegations are that the goods were overvalued; ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ose, it was mandatory for bank to satisfy themselves with regard to the genuineness of the documents submitted by the exporter along with foreign currency. Bank could have easily made out by matching the signatures of the tourist buyers on the photocopies of the passport with the signature of the tourist buyer on the CDFs. Bank and their staffs in their respective statements have admitted that they were careless in matching the signatures. Moreover, the fictitious character of these request letters could have easily been ascertained by a prudent banker on comparing the signature of these documents with the photocopies of the passport. All the CDFs purported to be issued on various dates over a span of 2 years, made in one single hand writin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ure while accepting the foreign currency and scrutinizing the documents submitted by the exporters. They, thus facilitated the notices in accounting the foreign currency deposited by them in the bank as export proceeds. The said foreign currency was procured illegally as the notices have not been able to procure any legal document for possession of the same after department established the fake character of the CDFs submitted by them. As far as the retraction of statements in their written reply submitted on 18-8-05 (i.e. after more than one year of the statement being recorded) is concerned, I may refer back to the matter already discussed in respect of other notices in para 180 hereinabove that such retractions do not hold any water as fa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... facts are not adequate to constitute an offence under Section 114 of the Customs Act. This is because the penalty under Section 114 can be imposed only on a person who in relation to any goods does or omits to do any act which act or omission would render the goods liable to confiscation. There is no evidence forthcoming that Shri Ravinder had handled the impugned goods or even handled documents about which he was aware that they related to goods liable to confiscation under Section 113 of the Customs Act. So we are of the view that the penalty imposed on Shri Ravinder under Section 114 of the Customs Act is not maintainable. 7. The liability of IDBI Bank arises basically from the negligence of Shri Ravinder. Further negligence on the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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