551 bid for 112 SUVs
The prices that bidders offered ranged between Tk1 lakh and Tk53 lakh
Bidders have submitted 551 tenders to Chattogram Custom House for purchasing 112 luxury SUVs – such as BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Lexus, Mitsubishi – imported with a duty-free privilege called the Carnet de Passages.
They placed offers both offline and online in the auction held on 3 and 4 November, according to the customs house.
The prices that bidders offered ranged between Tk1 lakh and Tk53 lakh, Al Amin, deputy commissioner of the auction department of Chattogram Customs, told The Business Standard.
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The price mentioned in the tenders will include 10% Advance Income Tax and 7.5% VAT, he said.
Farjana Trading from the city's Double Mooring area offered the highest Tk53 lakh for BMW 730LD SE AUTO.
The tenders will be sent to the National Board of Revenue for approval. Besides, Clearance Permit will be available from the commerce ministry shortly, Al Amin said, adding, "I hope the government will get a huge amount of revenue from sales of these luxury vehicles that have been lying around for a long time."
In the previous four auctions, the customs could not sell a single vehicle that remained stuck at the Chattogram port for more than eight years as the highest bid was lower than the price set by the authorities. They cannot sell a product at less than 60% of the declared price.
For the fifth time, the customs put the vehicles up on auction both online and offline.
Of the vehicles, 26 are of Mitsubishi brand, 25 Mercedes-Benz, 25 BMW, seven Land Rover, seven Land Cruiser, one CRV, six Lexus, five Ford, three Jaguar, one Daewoo, one Honda and other brands.
Under the carnet facility, eminent foreign citizens and foreign nationals of Bangladeshi origin brought in such vehicles for tax-free use for a certain period and were supposed to ship those back during their return. People concerned did not get the vehicles released from the port as these were imported misusing the carnet facility.
On 16 August, the Chattogram Customs House secured permission from the National Board of Revenue to auction off the vehicles, following an application it submitted to the NBR on 24 June.
According to the Chattogram Customs House sources, the reserve prices of the vehicles were initially set between Tk1 crore and Tk3 crore. But their values had been lowered much as they are now in shabby conditions and some of their items, including keys, are missing.
