Govt in search of new FBR chief

News comes amid report of document leak before budget speech

ISLAMABAD: The government has started searching for a new chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), as the incumbent top tax man Nisar Muhammad is going to retire early next year and authorities want to install a new head at the earliest.

The move to replace the FBR chairman comes amid reports that a key member of his team leaked a part of the classified draft of the Finance Bill 2016 to a Lahore-based partner of chartered accountancy firm, even before the June 3 budget speech of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

“The FBR chairman was reluctant to take action against his officer and the matter was also in the knowledge of the finance minister,” said the sources.

Nisar was not available to comment on the matter.

The sources, however, also said that this alone could not be the reason for any change at the top level of the FBR.  In November last year, the government appointed Nisar Muhammad as the FBR chairman in place of Tariq Bajwa, who belonged to the District Management Group (DMG). With the appointment, the chairman seat had again come back to a civil service cadre belonging to FBR, which was earlier grabbed by the DMG, now known as Pakistan Administrative Service.

Nisar is going to retire in January 2017 and if the finance minister decides to replace him before his retirement, Nisar could be posted as the federal secretary. “The government was again considering an option to bringing in the new chairman from the DMG cadre, but Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhtar Khan was not in favour of any such move,” said the sources.

They said Khan wanted the chairman to be from within the FBR, to ensure unity of command.

FBR’s Member Operation Inland Revenue Dr Muhammad Irshad, Member Inland Revenue Policy Rehmatullah Wazir and Director General Intelligence and Investigation of Inland Revenues Khawaja Tanveer Ahmad are being considered for the top slot. Khawaja Tanveer is the senior most among all the candidates and is from 9th Common. He has experience in income tax and customs affairs.

Dr Irshad enjoys backing of some of the top economic managers due to his reputation of a ‘doer’. He played a critical role in achieving last fiscal year’s tax collection target of Rs3.104 trillion, although many believed that the target was achieved on the back of taking advances and blocking taxpayers’ refunds.

Dr Irshad is going to retire in April next year and is junior to Rehmattullah Wazir.

Wazir also enjoys good reputation but was marginalised by the incumbent FBR Chairman during preparations of budget 2016-17. Nisar preferred Dr Mohammad Iqbal, Member Strategic Planning, Reforms and Statistics to Wazir in tax policy matters.

Water and Power Secretary Younus Dagha, who belongs to the DMG Group, is also being considered for the post. However, sources said that the government might not like to replace him due to his critical role in achieving the target of ending load-shedding by early 2018.

Dagha awaits promotion to highest basic pay scale (BPS) 22. While the Special Assistant to the Finance Minister and Statistic Division Acting Secretary Tariq Pasha could also be a choice for the top FBR post but he is also junior to the entire top lot sitting in the FBR.

Document leak

According to sources, a key member of the FBR is said to have been found involved in leaking the draft of the Finance Bill 2016-17 to a private accountancy firm, which was lobbying for getting relief income tax rates for a government-controlled body.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2016.

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