A total of 649 vehicles that had been seized by the government on suspicion of customs evasion and collusion during the customs clearance process have been released.
According to the District Administration Office, Mustang, vehicle distributors began gradually transporting the vehicles from Monday afternoon.
Although the Ministry of Finance had previously investigated the matter and concluded that no irregularities had occurred, the vehicles had remained under police control following instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“All vehicles that had been held after the budget announcement have now been released. Distributors started taking them away yesterday, and some are still in the process of being transported,” said Ek Narayan Bhandari, assistant chief district officer of Mustang.
The Ministry of Finance and the Department of Customs had investigated the import process of the vehicles that were seized after the budget announcement.
The vehicles, which entered Nepal through the Korala border point, were imported by Cimex Inc, the authorized distributor of BYD in Nepal.
The government had formed an investigation committee comprising customs representative Bhupal Raj Shakya, Finance Ministry official Niran Bhattarai, and representatives from Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force Nepal.
The committee has already submitted its preliminary report, which concluded that all import procedures had been properly followed and that no irregularities were found in the vehicle imports.
During parliamentary committee meetings on June 10 and 11, Finance Minister Wagle , Finance Secretary Ghanashyam Upadhyaya, and Department of Customs Director General Shyam Prasad Bhandari also said that there were no issues with the vehicles imported through Korala.
Despite the Ministry of Finance finding no problems, the vehicles remained under the control of the Armed Police Force for some time. The ministry had instructed the Korala Customs Office to proceed in accordance with directives from the Prime Minister's Office regarding the vehicles.
