Chennai Customs refutes bribery charge; Wintrack founder replies: 'Paid Rs 2.10 lakh, have proof with names'

Chennai Customs on Wednesday issued a detailed denial of bribery and harassment allegations made by Tamil Nadu-based Wintrack Inc, calling the company's claims "false," "calculated," and "a deliberate tactic to pressure officials."

In its rebuttal, Chennai Customs said: "This importer has an established pattern of making unsubstantiated allegations of corruption and bribery on this platform, only to delete such posts once factual rebuttals are provided by this department."

According to the department, Wintrack's shipment was found misclassified and contained undeclared USB charging cables with built-in batteries, requiring an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) certificate under the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022. Customs claimed the company failed to provide the necessary compliance documents and submitted "legally untenable claims" for exemption.

The department also alleged that the same importer used a related entity-his wife's company-to file a similar shipment with identical compliance gaps, and accused Wintrack founder Prawin Ganeshan of threatening officials with "media exposure and self-harm" during a meeting on September 30.

Chennai Customs maintained that no bribes were demanded and all procedures followed statutory compliance. "Every action taken was legally mandated, procedurally proper, and based on documented violations discovered during examination," it said.

However, Ganeshan rejected the statement and accused the department of fabricating facts. "I had personally met Group 5 AC Mr PV Sudhakaran in New Customs House, and conveyed grievance that why ridiculous bribe is demanded on a new company and we had no other option to pay and release it to avoid demurrage and losses," he said in a post on X.

"Shipment was released upon total bribe of Rs 2,10,000 for a value of $6993 USD. I know department will cook up some stories to refuse their claim. I have documented evidence with names and money paid."

Ganeshan also clarified that the shipment in question was a massager. "How can a factory sell a massager without a charging cable? The charging cable is included as part of the new product kit; every new product requires a charging cable to function. Customs raised an issue for the first time this year, questioning why charging cables were not declared separately."

He said charging cables are not sold separately and are always listed in the packing list. "EPR and LMPC compliances were manually requested for the first time, causing delays and demurrages. The law has loopholes, and officers exploit them at their discretion."

Wintrack, too, doubled down on the charges and asked whether customs would act against officers who allegedly received bribes. "Wintrack Inc. will expose on Twitter that another company, owned by my wife, was asked for a Rs 2.1 lakh ransom (Rs 1.6 lakh + Rs 50,000) for an import value of Rs 6.25 lakh. Let the public calculate the bribe percentage," the company post read. "I know 1000's of shipments from China cleared without BIS and other compliances by paying bribes at Indian ports." 

Earlier today, Wintrack announced it would cease all import and export operations in India from October 1. "This difficult decision comes after repeated and unjustified harassment by officials at Chennai Customs over the past 45 days," the firm said in a statement posted on X.