‘Appraisal officer demands 7 L bribe’: Importer exposes Chennai Customs corruption, releases audio recordings with officer

A Chennai-based importer’s tweet, which revealed a Rs 7 lakh bribe demand by customs officials, has sparked widespread outrage online.Pravin Ganeshan took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his ordeal, revealing how his shipment from China was left behind than 72 hours due to bribery allegedly facilitated by an agent named Sridhar.

“Assessee is demanding 7L bribe for my shipment through his bribe collecting agent CHA @ Chennai. Aneres assessment but they have agents to demand such bribe from importers,” wrote Ganeshan, referring to Chennai Customs, Central Indirect Taxes and Customs. Board (CBIC) and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Ganeshan explained that this is the first time he is importing goods from China. He alleged that after an inquiry on his last three bills of exchange (BOE) for similar goods, the customs agent demanded a bribe of two to three times the value of the shipment, citing the Scheme for Importation of Goods (SiiB).

Chennai Customs responded by asking Ganeshan to provide details of his consignment for further investigation.Ganeshan later confirmed that he shared the bill of entry and added, “I have the audio recordings of the CHA and the Assessing Officer’s agent demanding an outrageous Rs 7 lakh to clear the bill.”

In a separate post, he even shared the video recording with the customs officer. He wrote: “I am not making baseless allegations without evidence, this person Sridhar who is known in customs circles as an agent to collect bribe on behalf of the officer sitting in Delhi, the officer wants to deal only through him and no less than 7 lakhs offer. my delivery.

The post has gone viral, garnering more than 3.4 million views and 45,000 likes, with several users sharing their experiences of corruption in customs procedures.

One user commented: “Kudos to you for naming and shaming them. Many businesses include bribes like ‘tips’ and rarely speak up.” “Even with frequent transfers, the rot continues. The officers claim that the high-ranking officials demand these bribes.

Others recounted similar incidents, with one saying he had to pay Rs 5,000 instead of Rs 500 to activate his ICEGATE ID, while another said he paid bribes to clear chemicals for export despite having proper documents. to present.