Exotic Enterprises ordered to pay MVR 47 million over missing cigarettes

The Civil Court has ordered Exotic Enterprises to pay more than MVR 47 million in customs duty after hundreds of cases of cigarettes went missing from its bonded warehouse.

According to the Maldives Customs Service, the warehouse had contained 180 cases of Camel Yellow, 300 cases of Manchester United Royal Red Filter, and 110 cases of American Legend cigarettes. Under customs regulations, such goods cannot be removed until duties are paid and clearance is granted.

However, customs records showed that only 15 cases of Camel Yellow were officially cleared, with the remainder unaccounted for. Customs filed a lawsuit in July last year seeking MVR 47,182,011.86 in unpaid duties for the missing cigarettes.

The Civil Court ruled in favour of Customs after Exotic Enterprises failed to respond to the charges within 14 days, leading Judge Aishath Azfa Abdul Ghafoor to issue a judgment in absentia.

The court ordered the company to pay the full amount within two weeks.

Customs said the disappearance of the cigarettes came to light after it requested a stock audit following a change in the company’s shareholders around the time of import. When officers inspected the warehouse, no cigarettes were found.

The Parliament’s National Security Services Committee (241 Committee) has previously noted that, by the time the case reached court, the company’s shares had been transferred to individuals who “did not have the capacity to import such a large quantity of cigarettes or operate a business of that scale.”