The federal government on Friday transferred top hierarchy of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) - for the second time in three months - but once again kept the decision of appointing a permanent FBR chairman open.
The FBR issued transfer and posting orders for 12 officers, removing the ones who are not in good books of those who are calling the shots in the tax machinery.
The government has transferred FBR’s Member Inland Revenue Policy Dr Hamid Ateeq Sarwar and appointed him as Member Strategic Plan, Research and Statistics.
Sarwar had made the last two budgets of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
A surprising decision was to post out Faiz Illahi Memon, Member Administration FBR. The government has appointed Memon as Director General Special Initiative - a post that effectively does not exist and is used to park people who are to be punished or sidelined. Memon is a man of known integrity and is also considered one of the best officers in the FBR.
In his place, the government has appointed Bakhtiar Mohammad as new Member Administration FBR. Mohammad had been appointed as Member Facilitation and Taxpayers Education (FATE) a few months ago. He will also retain the charge of Member FATE.
The officers who were considered close to former FBR chairperson Nausheen Javed have been removed from their positions. However, the federal government did not confirm Javed Ghani as the FBR chairman, who was recently appointed as the acting chairman. Ghani is the fifth chairman under the watch of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
A key government functionary said on Friday that the government was looking for a suitable candidate to be appointed as the FBR chairman. He did not rule out the possibility of retaining Ghani as the chairman till his retirement, due in April next year.
The government functionary conceded that the government has not done enough to check corruption in the FBR, underscoring the need for reforms. The government has created a new post of Member Reform and Modernisation FBR and has appointed Ambreen Iftikhar on the post.
The FBR’s Board-in-Council has not yet approved the post of member FBR Reform and Modernisation. She was earlier serving as member human resource management.
In her place, Hafiz Mohammad Ali Indhar has been appointed as new member Human Resource Management. Indhar is a grade-22 officer.
Chaudhry Muhammad Tarique has been appointed as new Member Inland Revenue Policy, FBR. Tariq was serving as Chief Commissioner Regional Tax Office Sialkot. The member policy directly deals with the International Monetary Fund.
Dr Aftab Imam has been posted as Chief Commissioner of Corporate Regional Tax Office (CRTO) Karachi. He was earlier posted as Chief Commissioner RTO Quetta. Imam has recently been show-caused for giving up to 36 performance rewards against the prime minister’s austerity policy.
After a story appeared in The Express Tribune, the FBR had recovered all the money and was in the process of taking administrative action against Imam.
Sajidullah Siddiqui, who had been tipped as member Inland Revenue Policy, has been posted as Director General Retail, FBR Headquarters. Siddiqui was serving as chief commissioner Corporate RTO, Karachi - a post that was vacated for Imam.
Tariq Mustafa Khan has been given the additional charge of Chief Commissioner of Sialkot RTO.
Amjad Zubair Tiwana, who was serving as special assistant to the FBR chairman, has been posted out of the headquarters. He has been appointed as Commissioner Large Taxpayer Unit, Islamabad. Naveed Khalid Khan has been appointed as new special assistant to the FBR chairman.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2020.
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