The Customs Department's investigation team has submitted a report stating that all 649 electric vehicles brought through the Korala border crossing were inspected and passed as per the rules by 14 Jestha.
We use Google Cloud Translation Services. Google requires we provide the following disclaimer relating to use of this service:
This service may contain translations powered by Google. Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, expressed or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement.
The Customs Department has stated that electric vehicles were imported through the Korala border checkpoint in Mustang in accordance with the rules, shortly before the budget for the upcoming fiscal year was made public. According to the report submitted by the committee formed by the Customs Department regarding the inspection and import of electric vehicles, the vehicles were inspected and imported as per the rules.
A team was deployed to investigate the vehicles imported from Rasuwa on 17 Jestha under the leadership of Director Surendra Pandey and from Koralana in Mustang on 21 Jestha under the leadership of Director Bhupal Raj Shakya. ‘A monitoring team led by the Director of the Customs Department, including authorized representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Nepal Police, and Armed Police Force Nepal, has submitted a report to the Customs Department after conducting a detailed study,’ the department said in a statement. ‘According to the report of the monitoring team deployed at the Mustang Customs Office, it was found that 649 electric vehicles had been inspected and passed through the customs office through 9 declaration forms on 12 and 13 Jestha.’ The statement said that the investigation team, after a detailed study and analysis of official records and CCTV footage, concluded that all the mentioned electric vehicles had entered Nepal by 14 Jestha and had been inspected by the customs office as per the rules by the same date.’ The report submitted by the monitoring team to the department pointed out that the employees did not exercise sufficient caution and fulfill their official responsibilities while conducting customs inspection of electric vehicles at the Rasuwa Customs Office. "The monitoring team, during its on-site study of declaration forms, office records, etc., found that some vehicles were inspected and cleared only on the basis of documents without physically arriving at the customs," the statement said. "Since it was seen that the legal process had not been completed, the Ministry of Finance and the Customs Department have immediately suspended 13 employees, including the then office chief of the Rasuwa Customs Office, and initiated the process of departmental action."
The statement said that the electric vehicle importers involved in the incident, Laxmi E-Mobility Private Limited Kathmandu, Cymax Inc Private Limited Kathmandu, CG Motors Private Limited, Pooja International Nepal Private Limited, Pooja Construction Nepal Private Limited, and agents 248, 833, and 878, as well as customs inspection representatives, have been sent to the Rasuwa Customs Office for legal action.
649 BYD vehicles brought from the Korala border were seized by the Armed Police Force from places including Kushma in Parbat and Hemja in Kaski on 21 Jestha. The government had instructed them to release them, saying they had entered after passing the inspection process in a proper manner. After that, the vehicle traders who had released them from 31 Jestha had taken them away. The vehicles seized at the Rasuwa Customs Office have not yet been released.
