Palm oil case; did not evade taxes, says Parisons Group of Companies

KOCHI: Kozhikode-headquartered Parisons Group of Companies has said that customs has not imposed them a penalty of Rs 512 crore for importing palm oil after evading duty. It was reported that Mangalore Customs Commissioner has issued a show cause notice to Parisons for tax evasion by importing raw palm oil under the guise of raw palm oil.

In a statement, Parisons said it had received a notice from Customs regarding some discrepancies in the customs duty paid by the company, had sought legal advice and would send a reply. It has also been clarified that the company had to import raw palm oil in June 2022 due to the ban on the export of raw palm oil by the Indonesian government.

Customs Commissioner P Vinita Shekhar has indicated in the show cause notice that the director of the company, NK Harris, has given a statement to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence that he was under the impression that crude palm oil was tax exempt and did not deliberately attempt to evade it.