Missing NATO containers: List of suspect officials given to Supreme Court

Names include FBR, CBR chairmen, secretaries of trade, DGs Customs Intelligence and NLC and customs officials.

ISLAMABAD: The chairman Federal Board of Revenue, Salman Siddiqui, on Thursday submitted a list of all the officials to the Supreme Court who had served between January 1, 2007, and December 24, 2010. The names include former FBR and CBR chairmen, secretaries of trade and finance, DGs Customs Intelligence and National Logistics Cell and customs officials.

The list was furnished on the orders of a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, which is hearing a suo moto case on ‘missing’ Nato containers officially destined for Isaf forces in Afghanistan.

The court asked for a list of officials that were serving in relevant positions at a time when these containers went missing.

Earlier, the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) had submitted a report in the court testifying that 15,000 containers had never crossed the border, causing a loss of Rs37 billion to the exchequer. The FTO had pointed out that the loss caused during the past four years would prove to be far greater if a detailed inquiry were to be initiated.

The report recommended action against all the officials of customs and allied departments involved in the smuggling racket.  Six former secretaries, three former FBR chairman, four former heads of National Logistic Corporation (NLC) and 44 customs officials names are mentioned in the 58 members list, which has been presented in the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st,  2011.