The Civil Court has ordered Maldives Customs Service to pay MVR 22.7 million to CGT Pvt Ltd.
In a press release, Customs stated that the court ruled that CGT was not liable to pay extra over the changes to the import duty on cigarettes and so ordered Customs to pay MVR 22,733,844.36 to the company as compensation.
In 2017, CGT was consigned to a bonded warehouse and the six containers of cigarettes taken from the warehouse on 1 March 2017 was cleared as a permanent import.
CGT filed suit against Customs after it ordered the company to pay extra according to the 13th amendment to the Import Export Law, which was implemented on 2 March 2017, the next day.
The court concluded that CGT was not liable to make the extra payment over the new amendment, since the company had already paid the duty for the goods on 17 February 2017 and the goods were brought to the Maldives on 1 March 2017.
