ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has 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.

According to a notification ((Dismissal from Service) issued by the FBR here on Thursday, 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".

Asim Ahmad (IRS/BS-21), the then Director General, Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation (IR), Islamabad was appointed as Inquiry Officer, who submitted the inquiry report on April 22, 2020.

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The inquiry officer concluded that Rajabuddin (IRS/BS-20) approved and authorised issuance of legally inadmissible Income Tax refunds in indecent haste, in the case of M/s Digicom Trading (Pvt) Limited (NTN: 3412455-1), amounting to Rs58,606,508, ignoring patent information on law/rules, in connivance with his subordinates, in spite of the fact that condition for opting out of "Presumptive Tax Regime" was not met.

Hence, the officer caused massive loss of revenue to the exchequer.

He issued permission for revision of return of Income for the Tax Year 2013 in terms of section 114(6)(a) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 on an incomplete, invalid return of M/s Digicom Trading Company (Pvt) Limited.

The authorised officer, Mathar Niaz Rana (PAS/BS-22), the then secretary, Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives issued show cause notice on 27.01.2021 to the accused officer, who submitted reply on February 3, 2021 and denied the charges levelled against him and sought opportunity of personal hearing.

Accordingly, the authorised officer provided him opportunity of personal hearing on March 17, 2021.

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The authorised officer, after examining the facts of the case and the defense of the accused officer including reply to the show cause notice and observations/findings of the inquiry report agreed with the findings and recommendations of the inquiry officer, who established charges against the accused officer.

The authorised officer observed that the charges are of serious nature, therefore, he has recommended imposition of major penalty of "Dismissal from Service" under Rule 4(1)(b)(iv) of the Government Servants (Efficiency & Discipline) Rules, 1973 upon Rajabuddin.

The authorised officer forwarded the case to the authority, ie, the prime minister in terms of Rule 5(1)(iv) of the Government Servants (Efficiency & Discipline) Rules, 1973.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021