ISLAMABAD: It seems the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is stick to its ‘anti-public interest policy’ of a hot pursuit of whistle blowers to silence them and discourage them from pointing finger at big frauds and massive revenue hemorrhages, taking place in the customs field formations across the country.
Sources said although the FBR Chairman, as head of the country’s revenue administration, was legally bound to extend to any whistleblowers the statutory protections against FBR’s retaliatory actions provided in section 10 of the Public Interest Disclosures Act, 2017. Yet the chairman has so far made at least two whistle-blowing custom officers “an example” for the other potential whistle-blowers through retaliatory actions contrary to his obligation under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
Sources said that the Chairman FBR who should have legally restrained the Member Custom Operations from launching retaliatory actions against the whistle-blowers who pinpointed massive custom frauds, causing revenue losses worth billions of rupees, seems to have blindly followed the member’s advice for using the strategy of retaliation to suppress and conceal from public eye the huge revenue losses which the senior custom officers themselves are allegedly facilitating in the customs field formations for monetary gains at no cost to them.
The whistle-blower whom the FBR has made “an example of” for others is the ex-additional collector of customs adjudication, Faisalabad.
The officer had disclosed, through his written communication to the member custom operations that a new custom fraud was taking roots in Multan custom collectorate where junior seizing officers were releasing without adjudication and fine the vehicles used for carriage of the smuggled goods.
The whistle-blower pointed out that this plainly unlawful practice was gaining ground in Multan custom collectorate right under the nose of the collector and chief collector of the region.
Sources said that instead of seeking explanation from the collector and chief collector regarding their inaction to check the “money-making trend” thriving in Multan custom collectorate, FBR took a retaliatory action and transferred the whistle-blowing officer from his position to the Directorate of transit trade, Lahore, a place to park the officers whom FBR intends to teach a lesson for one reason or the other.
Earlier, collector of customs Gilgit-Baltistan had blown whistle on a usual and traditional huge fraud in GB customs.
Instead of investigating the scam through a high-powered enquiry committee and uncovering all those involved in the scam, the member custom operation transferred the whistle-blowing collector from his position and sidelined him at a lower grade position in FBR.
Sources disclosed that later custom high-ups in FBR allegedly examined the dynamics, causing disclosure of a custom fraud in GB customs which in routine operates successfully and unhindered almost in every custom collectorate.
