A taxman has levelled allegations of corruption against FBR Customs, which the latter agency has categorised as an attempt to smear senior officers.
ISLAMABAD: A taxman has levelled serious corruption allegations against his seniors monitoring Pakistan-China trade through the land route, igniting another controversy and causing further trouble for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), but the move may cost the officer dearly as some of the allegations appear to be untrue. The controversy was sparked by the fact that the taxman was monitoring the trade between Pakistan and China through the land route.
A letter from the collector of customs has shed light on the widespread corruption that exists within the government agency that is in charge of revenues. The cop asserted that there was “organised crime” going on in the tax department where they worked.
The letter, which was delivered to the customs member operations on Thursday and written by Collector Customs Sust Border Nisar Ahmad, appeared to imply that the Customs Department was home to a racket that had the approval of higher-ups in the agency.
After receiving a reference from a member of the cabinet, the officer was appointed to the position of collector of customs for Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) in September of this year.
According to the investigator, there were “abnormal anomalies in the assessment of duties and taxes at Sust Dry Port,” which is the land route for trade between Pakistan and China.
He claimed that the duties and taxes that were paid at the port only accounted for a fraction of the total amount that should have been paid because there was a connection between the officers of Customs Intelligence and the officials who worked at the Sust border. As a result, the remaining money was not collected. The charges have been refuted by the Customs Intelligence department.
The policemen who had been accused referred to the charges as “absurd and stupid,” and they stated that an investigation will soon be begun to investigate the basis of the allegations and take disciplinary action if necessary.
The officer claimed that the average amount of duties and taxes collected per container was shockingly low, coming in at only Rs2.8 million, despite the fact that the port was well-known for the consistent import of a variety of goods from China, including clothing, mobile phone accessories, cosmetics, tyres, and garments.
The charges came to light at a time when the Federal Board of Revenue was under pressure as a result of the leak of taxpayer data, which included that of Justice Qazi Faiz Isa. The officer continued by saying that a principal appraiser was involved in the criminal evasion of duties and taxes since his posting in 2019, and that he was conducting a cartel in connivance with certain traders. The officer said that this conduct had been going on since 2019.
He made the accusation that the member administration of the FBR had shown mercy toward the appraiser, which was an accusation that was completely incorrect due to the fact that the member administration had denied a request to spare the appraiser.
In response to a request for remarks, Nisar Ahmad did not provide any. Additionally, the member customs operation of the FBR was not available for remarks.
The officer made the allegation that the DG intelligence started blocking Goods Declarations (GDs) at Sust Dry Port when the principal appraiser was off-duty, despite the fact that the average income per declaration had increased by 123.5% after he was removed from his position.
However, according to the sources, the DG intelligence was the one who stopped the clearance of goods since they received complaints that Nisar Ahmad was not collecting all of the taxes that were owed by assisting the misdeclaration of commodities. They went on to say that the DG intelligence discovered a loss of tariffs and taxes amounting to more than one hundred percent in three separate instances.
Both the Customs Department and the Directorate of Customs Intelligence have responded to the claims and stated that they are false.
This is nothing more than a deliberate distortion of the facts in order to smear the veterans. It has been categorically stated that the Director General of International and inland Customs has never offered any recommendations of support to the member administration or any other senior officer of the FBR.
In addition, it was discovered that the allegation that when the customs appraiser was turned in, the DG intelligence began blocking GDs was completely without foundation. Between the 17th of September and the 9th of October, 2022, a total of 120 declarations were submitted, but none of them were blocked.
As a result, there is no connection whatsoever between the handover of the aforementioned officer and the stopping of suspect shipments by the Director General of Intelligence for Customs.
It is important to note, in regard to the assertion made by the collector G-B that the blocking of consignments by the DG intelligence was impeding the fulfilment of responsibilities, since during the course of the current season, more than 465 GDs were filed at the Sust Dry Port.
Only eight of these were stopped, and that was only after credible information concerning the misdeclaration of description and quantities was received.
Only three of the eight shipments that were held up for inspection were given the green light to proceed. Following a re-examination by the intelligence in the presence of the staff of the collectorate, a representative of NLC Sust Dry Port, and the importer, a large quantity of undeclared items and a cumulative evasion of duties and taxes amounting to Rs9.44 million (146%) were discovered. This amount is in addition to the duties and taxes that have already been collected by the collectorate on the three GDs.
