Govt appoints ex-police officer as tax ombudsman

Sukhera is considered close to the Shehbaz Sharif camp

ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain has appointed a retired police officer, Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera, as the new Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO), which many believe may weaken a state institution due to his lack of experience in the area.

“The president is pleased to approve the appointment of Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera, retired Police Service of Pakistan grade-22 officer, as the Federal Tax Ombudsman for a period of four years,” said a notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice. The notification was issued on the last working day before Eidul Azha holidays.

Sukhera, who retired as IGP Punjab in April this year, is considered very close to the Shehbaz Sharif camp in the PML-N and has been given preference over Zafarul Haq Hijazi, who was chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. Hijazi was backed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, said sources.



Earlier, the post of the FTO has been held by judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The FTO office’s conduct is subject to the Supreme Judicial Council and the government has appointed an officer who remained controversial due to the Model Town incident in which over a dozen workers of a religious political party were killed.

The office of the FTO had been set up under an act of parliament to provide justice to aggrieved taxpayers against malpractices of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). In the past two years, 3,417 taxpayers sent complaints to the FTO, which helped the taxpayers recover Rs3.5 billion from the FBR.

This is for the second time in the past eight years that the government has appointed an officer of the Police Service of Pakistan on a post that requires sound technical knowledge and an understanding of complex tax laws.

Earlier, former president Asif Ali Zardari appointed Shoaib Suddle as the FTO. On Suddle’s retirement, the PML-N government appointed a bureaucrat, Abdur Rauf Chaudhry. Chaudhry completed his four-year term in July.

Initially, retired judges of the apex court held the FTO post. Former Justice (Retired) Saleem Akhtar and Justice (Retired) Munir A Sheikh remained the FTO during the tenure of General Pervaiz Musharraf. But civilian rulers tried to accommodate their favourites, which has weakened the state institution.

On various occasions in the past four years, the FTO office has followed directives of the Finance Division. It was forced to remove a report from its website that blamed Dar for withholding genuine refunds of the taxpayers.

When contacted, Sukhera told The Express Tribune that he would comment on the issue after Eid.



In his April 2017 report, outgoing FTO Abdur Rauf Chaudhry wrote: “In our peculiar circumstances, provision of justice has been a complex phenomenon for numerous reasons, ranging from lack of required skills to the imperfection of legal statutes.” The FTO is supposed to be well-versed with the Provisional Collection of Tax Act 1931, Commercial Documents Evidence Act 1939, Central Excise Act, Customs Act 1969, Workers’ Welfare Fund Ordinance, Prevention of Smuggling Act 1977, Income Tax Ordinance 2001, Sales Tax Act 1990 and all such other laws.

Once appointed, the FTO cannot be removed from office before the end of his four-year term. Sukhera will remain the FTO till 2021.

The FTO Ordinance 2000 governs terms and conditions for the appointment of the FTO. It says “there shall be a Federal Tax Ombudsman who shall be appointed by the president and before entering upon office, the Federal Tax Ombudsman shall take oath before the president.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2017.

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