The federal government has started to take punitive action against officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) just before the budget preparation exercise for the next fiscal year.

The major reshuffle has reportedly taken place as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is not satisfied with the performance of the FBR, particularly when it comes to matters such as smuggling and Afghan transit trade.

According to a notification issued on Friday, FBR has transferred almost all key members, including Member Inland Revenue (Policy) and Member Customs (Operations) to the Admin Pool of the Board.

According to the notification, 13 key Members/Director Generals of the Board and two Chief Commissioners Inland Revenue have been transferred as Members (Admin Pool), Federal Board of Revenue (Hq), Islamabad.

They include Mukarram Jah Ansari (Pakistan Customs Service/BS-22), Member, (Legal and Accounting-Customs) FBR (Hq), Islamabad; Shah Bano G.M Khan (Inland Revenue Service/BS-21), Director General, (IOCO) FBR (Hq), Islam
abad; Dr. Fareed Iqbal Qureshi (Pakistan Customs Service/BS-21), Member, (Customs Operations) FBR (Hq), Islamabad; Tariq Mustafa Khan (Inland Revenue Service/BS-21), Member, (Accounting) FBR (Hq), Islamabad; Ahmad Rauf (Pakistan Customs Service/BS-21), Director General, Directorate General of Law and Prosecution, Islamabad;

Others include Mirza Mubashir Baig (Pakistan Customs Service/BS-21), Director General, Directorate General of Customs Valuation, Karachi; Hyder Ali Dharejo (Inland Revenue Service/BS-21), Chief Commissioner, Regional Tax Office I, Karachi; Muhammad Azam Sheikh (Inland Revenue Service/BS-21), Director General, Directorate General of Internal Audit (Inland Revenue), Islamabad;

Moreover, Muhammad Saleem (Pakistan Customs Service/BS-21), Chief Collector, Chief Collector of Customs, Appraisement (South), Custom House, Karachi; Abdul Wahid Uqaily (Inland Revenue Service/BS-21), Chief Commissioner, Regional Tax Office II, Karachi; Afaque Ahmed Qureshi (Inland Revenue Service/BS-21), Member, (IR
-Policy) FBR (Hq), Islamabad; Khurshid Ahmad Khan Marwat (Inland Revenue Service/BS-21), Chief Commissioner, Regional Tax Office, Islamabad have also been moved to the

Asim Majid Khan, a BS-21 officer of Inland Revenue Service, presently posted as Member (Legal-IR) has also been posted as Member (Admin Pool), FBR. Reportedly, Majid has been transferred due to a complaint by a top tobacco company as their issue was pending in the field office of FBR. Earlier, FBR had also suspended Chief Commissioner LTU Yousif Hyder Shaikh on the same charges.

Meanwhile, the PM on Friday also constituted another inquiry team under the chair of Secretary Finance, which will fix responsibility on officers who failed to implement the Track and Trace System in four notified sectors. The PM has shown dissatisfaction over the Tariq Bajwa-led committee, and the five-member committee failed to identify officers.

Through another notification, FBR announced transfers/postings of 22 officers of Inland Revenue Service (BS-20-22). Yet
another late-night notification saw transfers/postings of the 14 officers of Pakistan Customs Service (BS-20-22).

Source: Pro Pakistani