Kathmandu. KATHMANDU: An investigation has been initiated against 6 officials including the chief of the Rasuwa Customs Office on the suspicion of irregularities in order to evade customs and tax rates related to vehicles that the government has recently hiked.

The Department of Customs has pulled 6 employees including office chief Tulasi Bhattarai to investigate the case. As per the preliminary reports, it is suspected that some vehicles might have cleared customs clearance on the basis of paperwork without entering Nepal.

After the government significantly increased the customs and tax rates on expensive vehicles through the budget for the coming fiscal year, there are indications that the revenue may have been evased by passing the check at the old rate. The Department of Customs said that a factual investigation is underway in this regard.