Nato containers case: Supreme Court issues notices to 43 top officials

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices in Nato containers case to 43 top officials, who served in concerned departments from January 1, 2007 to December 24, 2010 asking them to submit their para-wise comments by January 27.
A three-member bench of apex court, while hearing a suo motu case, about liquor smuggling in containers meant for carrying ammunition, food and other necessities of life for Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan, had directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to submit a detailed list of all the concerned officials who had served in different positions during the said period.
According to a probe report of Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) headed by Shoaib Suddle over 50,000 containers meant for US and Nato forces in Afghanistan have been pilfered within Pakistan with the alleged collusion of the authorities. The Supreme Court is currently hearing a case about the pilfering of container trucks and investigators probing the scam have claimed that over 50,000 containers were stolen with the collusion of the FBR and National Logistics Cell (NLC).
The FBR and NLC are required to keep accurate entry and exit records but they had not done so, the report said. According to the FTO investigation report, tax evasion on the goods in the pilfered containers would amount to 'trillion of rupees'. The report also alleged that a "trans-national racket involving different governments" was involved in the scam. It alleged that Afghan authorities had not entertained Pakistan's request for information on the number of containers that had actually reached Afghanistan.
The investigators claimed the pilferage was done "in connivance with FBR officials who, instead of taking preventive measures, set up fact-finding committees to buy time to confuse the real issues," the report said.
The investigators noted a record rise in pilferage of 60 percent last year, as compared to 36 percent in 2009. A report submitted to the Supreme Court said the most conservative estimate put the number of pilfered containers at 7,922, though investigators believed the figure could be more than 50,000 if accurate data was furnished by the FBR regarding the 306,267 containers that landed at Karachi port during January 2007-October 2010. The FTO investigation report also described the FBR data as totally unreliable. The NLC data was also a total disappointment, said the report.