Punjab's district govts fail to cooperate with FBR in benami properties probe

Lack of data has made the investigation very difficult for Federal Board of Revenue

LAHORE:

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s campaign against benami properties has slowed down because most of the district governments of Punjab have provided incomplete assistance to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

Several districts have been repeatedly reminded by the FBR to submit accurate information but to no avail. About eleven districts of Punjab have clearly stated that there are no benami properties in their areas. The information provided to the FBR by 21 districts shows that there is a total of 621 benami properties in Punjab. No further details, however, were provided to the FBR.

Sources told The Express Tribune that despite repeated reminders from the FBR, the districts have made no progress so far.

The FBR’s Anti-Benami Directorate General has directed its staff at Benami Zones to contact the districts themselves and get the record of the information provided to them. Owing to the scarcity of resources in the Benami Zone of Lahore, out of 20 officers, only two have been appointed for the inquiry. These officers are going to the districts and contacting the Deputy Commissioner’s Office to collect the records, but so far, they have not had any success. At present, more than 200 inquiries are underway at the benami zone of FBR Lahore.

In addition to the benami properties, the staff is tasked with gathering information on anonymous vehicles, bank accounts, sugar scandals, and other anonymous businesses. Despite the increasing number of tasks assigned to the staffers, Lahore’s benami zone office has been provided with only one vehicle to deal, making it difficult for teams to travel to different districts of the province.

According to top FBR sources, Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed all provincial governments to take immediate action against benami properties as per the law enacted last year to deal with anonymous properties.

Along with the FBR, PM Imran Khan also directed the chief secretaries of all the provinces to provide the information sought on the form prepared by the FBR.

The Deputy Commissioner’s Office and the Board of Revenue of each district were given the task to collect the information with immediate effect. The urgency of the matter caused a stir in the provinces, and the process of gathering information began.

As it was backed by law, it was expected that the campaign would turn out to be successful and a large number of anonymous transactions would be caught and billions of rupees, which had been stolen for a long time, would be deposited in the national treasury.

Sources added that the 11 districts of Punjab which did not provide information despite being given a form by the FBR include Bhakkar, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin, Mianwali, Muzaffargarh, Sheikhupura, Sialkot, Vehari and Sargodha.

Among the 21 districts which duly submitted the information, the highest number of 229 benami properties have been reported from Lahore. Other districts with a high number of benami properties include Hafizabad, Gujrat, Kasur, and Okara.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2020.