According to a meeting of a sub-committee of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) held today, serious financial irregularities and violations of customs laws have been identified in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
A meeting of the sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was held at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of the Committee’s convenor, Shahida Akhtar, in which a detailed review of financial mismanagement and violations of customs laws in the FBR was conducted under the audit report 2013-14.
Losses due to delayed surcharge collection
Audit officials told the committee that the customs department has failed to impose surcharges on late payments, in violation of the Customs Act of 1969. This lapse resulted in a loss of Rs15.15 million.
There are massive delays from 11 days to as long as 385 days, and they were attributed to negligence at customs offices in Karachi and Islamabad. The audit noted that Rs133.8 million is still awaiting departmental action, while only Rs960,000 had been confirmed for recovery so far.
Auditors said the failure to recover government dues on time had directly affected public finances.
FBR response and committee directions
The Chairman of the FBR, Rashid Mahmood Langrial, informed the committee that one case involved delayed payments by a government agency. He said approval for imposing the surcharge had also been delayed.
The committee directed officials to verify the audit observations and to make sure that government dues are recovered completely.
Additional duty not collected
Another audit paragraph highlighted a loss of Rs25.5 million due to non-collection of additional customs duty between July and December 2013.
According to the audit, five customs collectors cleared imported goods without collecting the required duty. Officials reported that Rs2.5 million had been partially recovered during a Departmental Accounts Committee meeting.
The FBR Chairman told the committee that difficulty in recovery was not an acceptable reason to abandon it. He added that the customs system had now been fully computerised to prevent similar issues in the future. Officials said Rs15.6 million had been recovered so far, while Rs10.9 million remained outstanding.
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