ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has dismissed 86 tax officers/officials from services during the last over one year on the charges of corruption, inefficiency/misconduct and other serious violations.
Sources told Business Recorder that most of these officers/officials have been dismissed from service on the charges of corruption in the field formations. There are also serious violations committed by certain customs officers/officials. There are also cases of illegal issuance of refunds. In some cases, officials concealed information of immigration to other countries by seeking long leaves without disclosing foreign nationalities. The 86 officers and officials included both the Customs Group and Inland Revenue Services from lower grade to senior positions.
During the 13 months tenure of former FBR Member Admin Bakhtiar Muhammad, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against 156 officers/ officials working in the tax machinery. The disciplinary proceedings are also under way against three officials of BS-20. Among those dismissed from services, one Grade-19 and one Grade-20 official faced serious charges and were subsequently dismissed. Proceedings were also under way against two Grade-21 officers where the Prime Minister is the competent authority to take final decision.
A few days back, FBR Member Admin Bakhtiar Muhammad had been transferred and posted as Director General, Directorate General of Internal Audit (Inland Revenue), Islamabad.
Recently, Prime Minister Imran Khan had imposed a major penalty of "dismissal from service" on Rajabuddin (IRS/BS-20), Director (Enforcement), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Headquarters for hastily issuance of inadmissible income tax refunds of Rs58,606,508 to a company. The disciplinary proceedings were initiated against Director (Enforcement), FBR (HQ), Islamabad under Government Servants (Efficiency & Discipline) Rules, 1973, on account of "inefficiency", "misconduct" and "corruption".
On March 8, 2021, ex-FBR Chairman Javed Ghani had told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the Board is taking strict action against corrupt tax officials as there is zero tolerance for corruption. "Strict action will be taken against tax officials involved in corrupt practices," adding that whenever he gets a complaint against any official - whether junior or senior - it is thoroughly investigated and immediate action is taken to end the menace of corruption. "Irrespective of his/her position or designation, we were trying to make sure no tax official involved in the corruption was spared," Javed Ghani added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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