A ZAMBIAN firm, Rock Telecom Limited, has won a Supreme Court appeal after the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) seized its consignment of 96 820 mobile phones imported from China.
The High Court had ruled in favour of Zimra.
In its appeal, the firm cited Zimra.
The appeal was heard by Justices Tendai Uchena, Felistas Chatukuta and Justice Alphas Chitakunye.
“... seizure of the goods was on November 22, 2022. The respondent contended that the declaration of forfeiture was on January 30, 2023. A declaration of forfeiture was, therefore, effected after two months of the date of giving the notice of seizure, therefore falling short of the three months,” the judges said.
They said Zimra’s declaration of forfeiture was premature.
“It was still within the discretion of the appellant to institute proceedings for the recovery of the seized goods. The commissioner should have allowed the prescribed time to lapse. The declaration of forfeiture was, therefore, invalid,” the judges ruled.
“In the result, it is ordered that the appeal succeeds in part and the judgment of the court a quo is set aside.”
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According to court papers, sometime in October 2022, the consignment was to pass through Zimbabwe in transit to Zambia and the firm engaged a transporter, who lodged a manifest with Zimra at Forbes Border Post.
The company also engaged Allied Customs Freight, which registered a bill of entry declaring a consignment of 13 000 TECNO mobile phones.
It is alleged that on November 3, 2022, Zimra issued an F45 query notification for physical inspection of the consignment after noting that it was grossly undervalued.
On November 4, 2022, the clearing agent asked for a physical examination waiver, but the request was denied.
Four days later, the clearing agent made another request for a physical examination waiver, which, again, was denied.
On the same day, Zimra officers clamped the firm’s truck.
The truck was moved to the physical examination bay on November 18, 2022.
Zimra then conducted a physical examination of the shipment and it was discovered that the consignment was under-declared by 81 540 mobile phones.
The under-declaration rendered the consignment liable for seizure and forfeiture and consequently, the whole mobile phones consignment was confiscated on November 22.
Following the seizure, the company wrote to Zimra’s acting regional manager on November 30 seeking the release of the consignment.
The acting regional manager on December 5, 2022, responded to the company defending the seizure of the consignment.
The company then appealed to the Zimra commissioner-general and the commissioner upheld the decision.
The company then approached the High Court with an application for review of the commissioner-general’s decision.
The High Court ruled in favour of Zimra, forcing the company to approach the Supreme Court.
