India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence last week arrested Dinesh Maheshwari, executive director and chief financial officer of Future Enterprises Ltd, part of the retail conglomerate Future Group, for fraud involving more than $2 million of unpaid customs duties on garment imports. There were no reports of the place of his detention.

Maheswari allegedly flouted rules while importing duty-free shipments of readymade garments under a free trade pact with Bangladesh through Petrapole land customs station without payment of basic customs duty, Indian media reported citing a statement from the finance ministry.

Future Group did not respond to an email from Fibre2Fashion seeking comments.

The imports supplied from other countries were directed through Bangladesh and passed off as being of Bangladeshi origin after minimal processing, the statement said.

"Investigations further reveal that the garments were supplied by third country suppliers based in Dubai and Singapore, but were delivered from Bangladesh after some minimal processing, not enough as per the norms for the product to be called as of Bangladeshi origin," the statement said.

The government statement said cases of abuse of the free trade pact “directly affect the 'Make in India' campaign of the country and distort the level playing field for genuine Indian manufacturers." (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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