Islamabad: More than 200 cases of corruption, misconduct, inefficiency and malpractice against the senior and junior officials of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) are still pending since November 15, 2015 at various stages and many officials got stay orders from the courts and stopped the process of investigation and inquiries.
FBR sources said that out of these 200 pending cases, investigation and inquiries have been completed in 99 cases while only six of them could be dismisses from the service, which is the only maximum punishment can be given to government employees under Efficiency & Disciplinary Rules 1973.
The sources in FBR giving details of these cases said most of these cases were related to misconduct, inefficiency and corruption but the FBR can only proceed against them under E&D Rules and corruption cases have to be sent to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) or Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for taking action against the official and proceed for recovery if needed.
Member Administration FBR Ms Tasneem Rehman while commenting on the investigation and proceedings on these cases said that the department can not take any action beyond R&D rules and the maximum punishment is termination of the employee.
Some of the cases have been settled and despite the decision against the employees, they were reinstated by the courts, or on many cases, the proceedings have been stopped due to stay orders issued by the courts.
According to sources those who are facing cases in the FBR are included Muhammad Mustafa Kamal Grade 19, who was removed from service as charges of inefficiency, misconduct and corruption were proved against him. Case was initiated against him in February 2008 as he was director of two companies in UK and has visited abroad many times without seeking permission from the department. His case was decided after 10 years in August 2017 and finally awarded major punishment and removed from service but no further action was taken against him for misusing his position in FBR for providing benefit to his companies.
Another official Basharat Ahmad Qureshi a grade 20 officer of FBR who was involved in the loss of Revenue through sales tax of Rs. 1190 million when he was posted as Commissioner RTO Multan in 2011 and 2012. Charges of inefficiency and misconduct were proved against him for his failure to monitor sales tax payments from Pak Arab Fertilizers Limited and Fatima Fertilizers Limited in Multan and FBR have to face losses of Rs. 1190 million in sales tax. He got stay orders from Sindh High Court and even the FBR has written to Prime Minister to seek his permission for further action but it is also pending and officer is still working with FBR.
Among these 200 employees of FBR facing charges of corruption, misconduct and inefficiency belong to different grades, seven are Grade 20 officers, 11 are Grade 19 officers, 14 are Grade 18 officers, two are grade 17 officers, 13 are grade 16 officers while about 150 are lower grade employees who are superintendents, deputy super tendency, inspectors and appraisers.
These 200 cases were registered before 2012 while more cases have been added in the list after 2013 but the FBR due to long, lengthy and complicated procedure of investigation and inquiry the cases are being delayed. Another important element is stay orders being issued from the courts in these cases, which is another reason or the delay in the proceedings at the level of FBR. In one of the case of any employee serving in Peshawar who was involved in the case of irregularity in implementation of the Amnesty Scene 2013 was died even before finalization of the proceedings. The FBR has referred very few cases of corruption to NAB and these cases are pending at NAB due to it’s own lengthy procedure.
