Daily Times

KARACHI: Activities at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)’s wing Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation, Inland Revenue Karachi appear to be suspicious as legitimate authority is being violated continuously by some officers, Daily Times has learnt. ‘The suspected officers seem reluctant to follow legitimate authority and they are continuously bypassing powers of their immediate officers,’ said sources. It has been observed that some officials at DG, I&I-IRS-Karachi are allegedly involved in unlawful activities blackmailing suspected tax evaders, added sources.

It is important to mention here that the FBR is already facing a shortage of manpower as only three to four officers working for the intelligence and investigation wing. Sources said FBR is plagued by inefficiency, incompetence and corruption within FBR ranks as continuous violation of legitimate authority is on the rise in DG, I&I-IRS-Karachi.

In this regard, Additional Director Headquarters (AD-HQs) has written a letter to all officers of the I&I-IRS Karachi stating that ‘Few instances have come to the knowledge of the undersigned that legitimate authority of the additional directorate has been bypassed without apparent reasons or presence of any legal order to that effect’.

According to a copy of the letter available with this scribe, the Additional Director has warned off the officers for necessary actions referring that ‘This is not only violation of section 209 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, section 30 of sales tax act 1990 and section 29 of Federal Excise 2005 read with SROs 115,116 and 117, all dated 09.02.2015, but also a flagrant violation of Director General Letter dated 04.09.2015. The AD-HQs said that action under section 175 in case of Mr Muhammad Umar, and the course of proceedings that were undertaken ate the premises of M/s Ashary’s are just two of many instances where legitimate authority had been violated.

Sources claimed that the letter was issued because of two Deputy Directors of the DG-I&I-IRS, Karachi i.e. Imran Qadeer and Muhammad Arif who are allegedly involved in bypassing and violating the immediate officers’ authority for their personal benefits. The seriousness of the matter can be gauged by the fact that the AD-HQs had termed it a flagrant violation of legitimate authority, which clearly indicates that the suspected officers share strong connections in FBR’s higher authorities, sources alleged.

In a letter, the AD-HQS said ‘This flagrant violation of legitimate authority reflects very poorly on the conduct of officers and this has been viewed very seriously,’ He further added that officers involved in bypassing immediate supervisory authority are advised to avoid such acts of insubordination falling which their conduct would be reported to higher authorities and necessary action would be taken.