The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has unearthed evasion of duties and taxes of over Rs 55 billion, as 28,000 containers carrying commercial cargo under the Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) on way to Afghanistan went missing, the Supreme Court was informed on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the remaining 322,000 containers meant for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan dispatched from the Karachi port have not been found yet, further denting the national exchequer. A two-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain was hearing a suo motu case pertaining to pilferage of containers in Pakistan meant for ISAF.
FBR Chairman Salman Siddique apprised the bench on the scam. The court was told that former president General Pervez Musharraf’s nephew and former Karachi corps commander’s son played a major role in the scam.
The court directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman to cooperate with the FBR chairman to initiate proceedings against those involved and also take action against them. The FBR chairman told the bench that pleas were pending in the Sindh High Court, filed by the accused involved in the scam including importers, clearing agents, terminal/port operators, custom officials, shipping agents and transporter, which caused delay in taking action against them.
The court asked the FBR chairman to provide details of pleas pending before the Sindh High Court, so that the SHC could be asked to expedite hearing of these cases.
Justice Hussain said it would be a result-oriented act if the NAB came to help to probe the cases, adding that no pressure would be accepted by the FBR.
Giving details of the missing containers, the FBR chairman said the trend of steep fall in import of transit trade cargo continued in ensuing months.
He said an investigation conducted by FBR revealed that 63,264 commercial ATT containers were imported from February 1, 2010 to September 20, 2010. He said the quantum of such imports in the corresponding period of this year had fallen to 33,414 containers, signifying a massive fall by approximately 50 percent.
Siddique said non-commercial ATT imports had also fallen by 26 percent to 28,802 containers which had gone missing. He said issuance of SCN was actively in progress, adding that the loss of revenue in terms of duties and taxes was around Rs 55 billion.
