ISLAMABAD: In the absence of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Shabbar Zaidi, the federal government has appointed Member Admin Nosheen Javed Amjad, a BS-22 Inland Revenue Service officer, as the acting chair of the FBR.
According to a notification, “Nosheen Javed Amjad, a BS-22 officer of Inland Revenue Service (IRS) presently posted as Member Admin FBR is assigned the look after charge of the post of chairman FBR with effect from January 31 during the leave period of Shabbar Zaidi.
Pakistan Today earlier reported that Zaidi is going on indefinite leave due to health issues.
According to reports, before going on leave, Zaidi met Adviser to the Prime Minister on Revenue Dr Hafeez Shaikh and senior officials of the finance division and informed them that he was taking leave for an indefinite period.
The FBR has missed revised revenue collection target for the first half year of the current fiscal by a wide margin of Rs287 billion against the target of Rs2.367 trillion despite several measures and double-digit consumer inflation.
The International Monetary Fund technical team will start review of the performance of FBR revenue collection from next week.
Hafeez Shaikh had asked the FBR chairman to send home all those officers who were not performing, referring to the low revenue collection and lack of progress on reform measures. However, no officer was transferred.
Similarly, Shaikh had asked the FBR chief to share with him a plan on revenue collection and registration of traders, especially big retailers, with the sales tax department.
The fake refund scam is another area where the FBR has yet to take action against senior officials involved in it.
SHUFFLING IN CUSTOMS:
Meanwhile, the FBR has reshuffled the top hierarchy of Pakistan Customs by removing Member Customs Operation Agha Jawad and other senior collectors from their positions.
Sources said that Agha Jawad had allegedly been promoting and protecting corrupt officials in the department and a number of corruption inquiries are pending against him.
On the other hand, the FBR has given the additional charge of Member Customs Operation to Javed Ghani, who is working as Member Customs Policy.
In addition to this, the FBR has also posted Muhammad Saleem as Collector MCC appraisement Peshawar, Khalil Ibrahim Collector MCC Preventive Peshawar, Muhammad Yaqoob Collector MCC preventive Quetta as well as MCC Gwadar, Irfan ur Rehman Collector MCC appraisement Quetta, Fayyaz Anwar Collector MCC Preventive Multan, Imtiaz Shiekh Collector MCC export Karachi, Irfan Javed Director Intelligence and Investigation Gwadar and Shahid Jan has been posted as Additional Collector MCC appraisement Peshawar.
The notification stated that the FBR asked close aides of Jawad Agha, Ahsan Ali Shah, Iftikhar Ahmad, M Raza, and Arbab Qaisar to assume their responsibilities as the chief as well as the secretary of the FBR, respectively.
