Daily Times

KARACHI: At the time when Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is seriously engaged in broadening the tax base, undue transfers of competent officers have raised questions about the board’s integrity.

It has been learnt that recently the board has transferred as many as 29 officers of Inland Revenue Service (IRS) from all its bureaus across the country. One of the transfers is of a dedicated officer from IRS’s wing Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation (DG, I&I-IR), Karachi, which indicates that the procedures of transferring and posting at the board remain vulnerable to external influences.

If internal sources are to be believed, the transfer of Deputy Director Asif Ali Abro from DG, I&I-IR, Karachi, to Deputy Commissioner-IRS, Corporate Regional Tax Office, Karachi, is a prime example of an unjust decision by the board. Abro assumed the charge at the DG, I&I-IR, Karachi, two months ago and during his short term he identified potential tax frauds of high-net worth individuals. Generally, a Civil Services of Pakistan (CSP) officer is transferred within 3 years from any posting but in the case of Abro the usual practice has been compromised by the FBR to please some elements, sources alleged.

“Abro conducted a raid in Clifton which unearthed an offshore company owned by a Pakistani doctor being assisted by influential. Abro also raided on Mandviwala Entertainment, which is owned by Nadeem Mandviwala who is the brother of Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Finance Saleem Mandiwalla, but the raid was called off on the instructions of high-ups of FBR due to political pressure,” sources claimed.

The sources further claimed that the officer was transferred because he refused to accept the pressure in money laundering cases of off-shore companies and initiated proceedings for lodging FIR against the culprits under anti-money laundering Act. On the other hand, Khawaja Tanveer Ahmad, Director General, DG, I&I-IR has termed Abro’s transfer a routine matter. “Since transfers and postings are made by FBR (headquarters), therefore, DG, I&I-IR has nothing to do with it, and we are taking it as a regular course of action like other transfers made by the board including Abro’s,” said Ahmad.

He clarified that Jamil Brohi, not Asif Ali Abro, was the officer who initiated inquiry against the owner of famous hair transplant clinic Dr Zulfiqar Tunio at Clifton and no record of any off-shore company was found from the premises of the clinic. “Dr Tunio also owns a clinic in Dubai and the raiding team found the record of his bank accounts in Dubai. A company is considered off-shore only when it has account in any of tax haven countries and Dubai is not among those cities, hence the claim to expose an off-shore company is untrue”, Ahmad elaborated.

He further added that there was no political, external, or internal pressure behind the transfer of Abro and other officers because the transferred officers may relinquish their charges again under routine process.