Sugar mills tax evasion: FBR issues notification on suspension of 9 IR officials

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued a notification on suspension of nine Inland Revenue officials/officers involved in malpractices and were working in connivance with the sugar mills to evade sales tax and federal excise duty.

The suspended officials were working at Regional Tax Office-I, Karachi; Regional Tax Office Hyderabad; Regional Tax Office, Sukkur; Corporate Tax office Lahore and Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad.

According to the notification issued by the FBR on Monday, in exercise of powers conferred under Rule 5(1) of Civil Servants (Efficiency & Discipline) Rules, 2020, the Competent Authority is pleased to place the following officers / officials under suspension with immediate effect, for a period of 120 days or till further orders, whichever is earlier:

The suspended officials are Muhammad Mohsin Khan (Inland Revenue Officer/Time Scale BS-17), Regional Tax Office-I, Karachi; Arshad Mahmood (Inland Revenue Officer/Time Scale BS-17), Regional Tax Office-I, Karachi; Ubaidullah Buksh (Inspector-IR/Time Scale BS-17) Regional Tax Office Hyderabad; Sarfraz Ahmad (Office Superintendent/BS-16), Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad; Munir-ul-Haq (Senior Auditor/BS-16), Regional Tax Office, Hyderabad; Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, (Inspector-IR/BS-16), Regional Tax Office, Sukkur; Muhammad Arslan Yaqoob (UDC/BS-13), Corporate Tax Office, Lahore; Syed Mansoor Hussain Yousifzai (UDC/BS-13), Regional Tax Office Hyderabad and Saqlain Haider (LDC/BS-11), Regional Tax Office, Faisalabad.

Permanent posting of the staff in the previous season resulted in controlling the smuggling of sugar, which brought about drastic reduction in sugar price and the hording of sugar was controlled because of adequate supply. During the current crushing and production season of 2024-25 the Federal Board of Revenue has intensified its efforts to ensure compliance with tax laws and has taken strict action against irregularities in sugar mills across Pakistan.

These nine officers/ officials of the Federal Board of Revenue, who were found to be involved in malpractice and were working in connivance with the mills to evade taxes have been suspended on the credible information and the reports from the monitoring agencies.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024