A European Commission (EC) team will arrive in Dhaka next week to investigate the alleged forgery of GSP certificates used for exporting shrimps to the EU countries, officials said. The EC is sending the team mainly to investigate the allegations against some 48 companies mainly from Khulna region that used fake generalised system of preferences (GSP) certificates in exporting shrimps to France and Belgium, they added. The four-member mission, led by the Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) senior customs investigator Michael Dittrich, also accompanied by investigators each from France and Belgium, will arrive on November 23 for an 11-day visit, they added. The Bangladesh embassy in Brussels early this month in a letter already informed the agencies concerned in Dhaka about the mission and requested them especially the Export Promotion Bureau to cooperate with the team to undertake smooth investigation. The embassy also informed the agencies that the EC is actively considering to scrap its decision to lift the safeguard measures of pre-export testing on Bangladesh’s shrimps imposed on July 24, 2008. “In view of this, it is very important that the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) extends full cooperation to the EC’s team in their planned investigation,” the embassy said. “The investigation team will stay in the country from November 23 to December 3,” a senior EPB official said. During the period, they have sought cooperation from the EPB so that they can undertake smooth investigation. The EC team is likely to request for including making available the GSP registers, other export related documents from EPB’s branch office and National Board of Revenue (NBR) and arranging meetings with some of the exporters suspected to be involved in wrongdoing, he added. The EPB Khulna office issued GSP certificates against shrimp exports while some unscrupulous companies allegedly doctored those. The customs department of importing countries detected the forgery, sources said. Importers get tax rebate showing the GSP certificates issued by the EPB, a senior official said.. “Such unprofessional activities might bring a negative impact on the country’s shrimp export to the EU which is the largest destination not only for frozen shrimp but for other export items,” he told the FE. Since 2011 to 2013, exporters were engaged in such activities and the Bangladesh Embassy wanted clarification about 71 GSP certificates. Latter the embassy was informed that out of those 71, some 37 were forged or tampered with, sources said. The EPB in a meeting held in March this year, decided to impose a financial penalty of Tk 50,000 before re-issuing GSP certificates of those 37, they added. Following the allegation and the visit of the team, the Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association (BFFEA) in a letter, issued on November 09 and signed by its president SM Amzad Hossain, warned shrimp exporters that the association will suspend or cancel membership if such allegation is proved. It will also request the concerned government authority to cancel the licence of a factory if it is found involved in GSP certificate forgery.
