A parliamentary panel has directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to bring about practical reforms in the organisation, saying current dubious system is not serving the national interests. The subcommittee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) met here with MNA Syed Naveed Qamar in the chair Tuesday. While taking up the audit paras of the FBR for the year 2016-17, the panel observed that there were many loopholes not only in the policy but also in its implementation.
The panel directed the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) to direct all the field audit officials to carry out audit of all the entities on transparency, fairness and unbiased basis, as during the discussion and review, it has been observed that some audit paras are mala fide ones.
The panel gave these remarks after undertaking an audit para wherein it has been reported that a loss of Rs 11.88 billion in revenue incurred due to non-imposition of fine and penalty to importers and exporters.
The director general (DG) AGP told the panel that the said para is seemingly mala fide and the AGP is taking up the issue with the officers who conducted the audit. The DG said that of Rs 11.88 billion, an amount of Rs 10.47 billion was settled in the Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) of the FBR as it was established that the amount was not due.
The committee further directed the DG audit to investigate all such audit paras wherein any mala fide intention is emerging and take serious action against the officials concerned.
Member Committee Hina Rabbani Khar said seemingly the matters are not going smoothly in any of the public sector department and there is a dire need to fix and reform every department. The FBR chairman said that department has drafted a reforms policy which will be followed after getting approval from the competent authority.
Rabbani observed if the FBR officials start collecting taxes honestly, the country will not need to consult with the global lending organisations like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and others. She further said that half of the amount collected on account of various taxes goes directly into the pockets of the tax collecting authorities, so bringing a simple but transparent tax system is need of the hour.
The DG audit also requested the committee to direct the Ministry of Finance for the release of budgetary amount required to conduct revenue related audit of the FBR as after the passage of five year as per law, the department could not carry out the audit. The DG further said that on expenditure side audit of any period can be carried out at anytime of any period but on revenue side there is five years time limit.
The committee on the appeal of the AGP directed the Ministry of Finance to release required funds to the audit department so that timely audit of under discussion department can be carried out.
The committee also directed the FBR and AGP to not rely on the courts for the recovery of outstanding amounts against various departments, entities, businessmen and others as the court cases are only delaying the recovery of amount.
The panel further asked the FBR to treat every citizen of Pakistan equally by eliminating all kinds of discrimination at all the levels, saying it has been observed that those having strong connections manage to get benefits while those don't are even unable to get their due rights. The chairman committee directed the AGP and FBR to hold a DAC on the pending audit paras and bring the report to the committee within a month with clarity.