Tax expert accused of harming reputation of FBR officers

LAHORE: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Deputy Commissioner Ali Saleh Hayat Kalyar has sent a legal notice to former chairman FBR Shabbar Zaidi for damaging the reputation of Board’s officers. The legal notice has been served through Bokhari & Gondal Law Firm.

According to the legal notice, a copy available with Business Recorder, Zaidi, while speaking to the host of a political talk show dated 27-06-2023, had made “defamatory and insulting” remarks against all officers of the Board, which was broadcast on television and other media platforms.

Zaidi had made “unfounded and malicious” allegations of corruption, bribery and incompetence against the employees/officers of the department. “His false statements have also caused severe emotional distress and mental anguish to the enormous number of employees serving the respective department. The derogatory comments passed by him have had a detrimental impact on their professional growth and have subjected them, including Deputy Commissioner Kalyar, to unwarranted suspicion and disdain from their colleagues and the public”.

The legal notice has further mentioned that it was expected that Zaidi would exercise his freedom of speech responsibly and consider the consequences of his words. Still, he made public statements with full knowledge of their “falsity” and intended to cause harm to the personal and professional life of the FBR staff.

Therefore, the legal notice has required Zaidi to issue an immediate public apology through the same medium and platforms in which he made the defamatory statements. Also, his apology should explicitly acknowledge the “falsehood” of his remarks and “express regret for the damage caused to the FBR officers’ reputation and cease making any further false and defamatory statements about them or their professional capabilities, directly or indirectly, to any individual or media outlet and provides compensation to them in terms of Rs 10 million as damages, failing compliance with the forgoing, within 15 days of service of this legal notice to him; the FBR officers would initiate appropriate legal proceedings against you on all relevant forums for seeking enforcement of their rights and remedies at his sole cost”.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023