The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday rejected Imran Khan’s allegations of ‘fixing’ tax record of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members by its two senior officers.
An official statement of revenue collection body said that the FBR has expressed its serious concern regarding unfounded allegations of ‘fixing’ tax record of Prime Minister Sharif and his family members by its two senior officers as no individual can alter, edit or modify the record and allegations are totally false and baseless and an attempt to disrepute the officers.
The allegations were leveled during a post midnight political rally in the capital on Sunday. The allegations are strongly denied as being mere speculative and unsubstantiated.
The FBR considers the tax record of all the taxpayers as a sacred trust and under Section 216 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, it cannot be shared with unauthorised persons. The FBR has fool proof automated processes for record maintenance and updating. No individual can alter, edit or modify the record except as provided under the law and standard operating procedures. The record is stored in a secure database and any access to the same is automatically recorded by the system. There is thus no question of tampering with the record in any manner whatsoever, the statement read.
The allegations are totally false and baseless and constitute an attempt to bring the two very competent, honest and senior officers of FBR enjoying impeccable reputation of integrity and professional competence to disrepute and can demoralise and discourage the employees of FBR who had just recently been successful in making an unprecedented accomplishment of surpassing a massive collection target of Rs 3104 billion during financial year 2015-16.
The FBR expects that while issuing such statements, our political leaders would consider the adverse impact such statements have on the individual’s reputation in the society and the morale of national institutions. The employees of FBR feel disheartened and demoralised. It would be in best national interest if such allegations are retracted and FBR is allowed to continue performing its functions and duties in a non-partisan manner, the statement further said.