27 FBR officers made OSDs on agency reports

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) sent more than two dozen senior officers in the Inland Revenue and the Customs departments to the admin pool as officers on special duties (OSDs), following their negative reports from secret agencies.

According to the FBR notification, 16 of those officers of Grade-20 belonged to the Inland Revenue, while the 11 officers sent to the admin pool belonged to the Customs Service. Sources said that these officers would not be assigned any important position in future.

The Inland Revenue officers sent to the admin pool are: Director Law Karachi Tariq Ghani, Commissioner Income Tax Sargodha Muhammad Abid, Commissioner Regional Tax Office Lahore Humira Maryam, Commissioner Regional Tax Lahore Muhammad Naveed Akhtar, Director Internal Audit Karachi Muhammad Ali, Commissioner Inland Revenue Naeem Babar, Commissioner Regional Tax Gujranwala Zulqarnain Ali Shaheen, Commissioner Regional Tax Karachi Abdul Qadir Sheikh, Commissioner Income Tax Multan Pir Khalid Ahmed, Commissioner Corporate Tax Office Karachi M Asim Khattak, Commissioner Inland Revenue Sialkot Razi Rahman Khan, Commissioner Special Zone Islamabad Noshirwan Khan and Commissioner Peshawar Fazli Malik.

Those transferred in the Customs are: Collector Customs Appeal Islamabad Dr Akhtar Hussain, Director Transit Trade Lahore Muhammad Adnan Akram, Director General Law and Prosecution Muhammad Maqbool Aamir, Chief FBR Malik Kamran Azam Khan, Chief FBR PAC Khalid Hussain Jamali, Collector Customs Adjudication Raza, Director Audit Post Clearance Samiul Haq, Chief FBR Ambreen Ahmed Tarar, Chief FBR Aamir Rashid Sheikh, Director Transit Trade Gwadar Naveed Iqbal and Collector Customs and Judiciary Quetta Muhammad Ahsan Khan.

It was another drastic step taken by the government to weed out officers lacking in competency. In April, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif removed 25 FBR officers on the basis of the input from three intelligence agencies about their financial integrity and competence.

On the advice from the Prime Minister’s Office, the FBR had issued the notifications for the removal of 13 officers, who were serving in grade 21 and 22, while another 12 were those either already having no positions or were working on deputation.

Among those who were ousted included the top tier members of the board, chief commissioners and a former FBR chairman, who was already without a position for the past two years. In their place, the government made transfer and postings of 25 FBR officers.

Even before that the prime minister suspended a senior FBR officer for his negligence in following a court case. The suspended officer was also among the 25 FBR employees, who were found lacking on multiple professional counts.

A cabinet member had told The Express Tribune at that time that in the first phase grade 21 and 22 officers had been removed from their positions belonging to both the Inland Revenue Service and the Customs Group. While in the second phase, Grade 20 officers would be removed.

PM Shehbaz had ordered the three intelligence agencies and the FBR top management to assess the top tier of the tax machinery on the basis of their financial integrity, competence and public dealing.