सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Kathmandu. Director General of the Customs Department Mahesh Bhattarai has said that sources of income should be found for gold, mobile phones, laptops, cameras and other items brought by Nepalis returning from abroad. In today’s meeting of the Finance Committee, Director General Bhattarai said that gold smuggling is mainly seen from Dubai and Hong Kong and that financial sources should also be found for items including gold that are legally brought in as prescribed by the law on gold smuggling.
‘The law on gold smuggling has made provision for women to bring 50 grams of gold and men to bring 25 grams of gold. There is a tendency for people who go to Dubai for a week to return from there to bring 50 grams of gold, two iPhones, computers, cameras and other items. There must be a gang that sends gold to the airports in Dubai and Hong Kong,’ Bhattarai said. ‘Those who go abroad to travel only take the equivalent of US dollars 2,500 at most from Nepal. When they return after a week, they bring back gold worth US$5,000. Even if the gold is within the legal limits, if we look for its financial source, it can be considered as outright smuggling.’
He said that Nepal Rastra Bank allows commercial banks to import up to 20 kg of gold per day, and that more than that amount of gold is coming to Nepal in the form of gold. ‘When I was the chief of Tribhuvan International Airport, it was found that up to 22 kg of gold was coming there in the form of gold in a day. That gold is mostly sold in the market as jewelry rather than for personal use,’ Bhattarai said.
In today’s meeting of the committee, Chairman Santosh Chalise said that there have been widespread complaints that illegal gold is being imported through the Tribhuvan Airport customs, and that customs officials are harassing even legally imported gold. He had sought a response from Director General Bhattarai on this. In response, Director General Bhattarai pointed out the need to investigate the financial sources from which even the materials considered legal by the Jhitigunta law were purchased.
The Finance Committee today discussed the ‘Bill to Amend and Consolidate the Customs Law, 2080’ with the amending MPs. The amendment MP Mahesh Kumar Bartaula stressed that the bill should not only facilitate international trade but also facilitate domestic trade. Similarly, he suggested that the law should include a provision in which the trader himself should be present and declare the goods at the customs instead of the trader’s representative.
In the meeting, MPs Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Surya Bahadur Thapa Chhetri, Ganga Karki and others were of the opinion that the discussion on this bill should be completed as soon as possible. The government has stated that the Customs Act needs to be amended to make the customs clearance process more technology-friendly and easier and to be compatible with the Kyoto Convention, to which Nepal is a party.
Nepal is a party to the Revised Kyoto Protocol and the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the World Trade Organization. According to these agreements, the Convention states that the general provisions of the revised Kyoto Protocol should be implemented within three years of becoming a member and the transitional provisions within five years. Similarly, the government has brought this bill stating that it is necessary to address the provisions related to customs through the Customs Act and Rules for trade facilitation.
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