The Chandigarh bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) upheld the absolute confiscation of a 1kg gold bar valued at Rs.32,98,350/- on the ground of illegal smuggling done by the assessee.
Narayan Sharma, the appellant assessee appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) for confirming the absolute confiscation of gold under sections 111(d), 111(1), and 111(m) of the Customs Act, 1962 and imposition of penalty and for the Customs Duty demand under section 28AA of the Customs Act on the assessee.
Naveen Bindal and Dilpreet Singh Gandhi, the counsels for the assessee contended that the other two assessees Rakesh Rai and Vaibhav Rai had played a major role in the entire smuggling of gold and were also the actual beneficiaries of the whole smuggling.
Also submitted that the foreign currency was also arranged by Rakesh Rai and gold was purchased by Vaibhav Rai in Dubai. Further, the assessee did not bring the gold outside the Airport and was only a carrier who used to be paid Rs. 10,000/- for carrying the gold and handing over the same to the driver of the Bus.
He further submitted that the penalty imposed on the assessee Narayan Sharma was on the higher side.
Swathi Chopra, the counsel for the department relied on the decisions made by the lower authorities and contended that the statements made by the assessee had given detailed findings regarding the alleged smuggling of gold by the assessee.
Also submitted that the confessional statement of the assessee indicates the role played in all the transactions on various occasions.
The Bench observed that the role played by Rakesh Rai and Vaibhav Rai was concerned, they were also actively involved in the entire smuggling of gold and it had also come in evidence that Rakesh Rai had given the foreign currency of USD 33,000 to Narayan Sharma who was a carrier of the gold.
A single-member bench comprising S.S Garg (Judicial) upheld the absolute confiscation of 1kg gold bar by the assessee.
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