Musharraf’s tax files remain unopened

PAC member asks for PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif's records.

ISLAMABAD: Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s sealed tax returns remained unopened in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting after a committee member asked for the records of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif.

The member had sent a note to Yasmeen Rehman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), who was chairing the meeting in the absence of PAC chairperson and Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, seeking directions to tax authorities to present Sharif’s records.

A member of the PAC told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity that on October 20, when neither the chairperson of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) nor the auditor-general of Pakistan was ready to disclose the details of General Musharraf’s tax returns, a member of the committee sent a written message to the acting chair requesting that the FBR should produce Sharif’s tax records as well.

“Rehman decided against passing orders to produce Sharif’s tax records on the assumption that it may provoke committee members from the PML-N to demand the details of President Zardari’s assets and returns,” said the member.

PML-N’s Khwaja Asif had sought details of Musharraf’s tax returns in a meeting of the PAC held on October 19. Sohail Ahmad, the FBR chairperson, brought the sealed file on October 20 but no one in the meeting made a move to open the file. Some hid behind the rules while others kept silent due to political compulsions.

However, attempts were made to acquire details of President Asif Ali Zardari’s declared assets and tax that he paid as a businessman, as according to the FBR, the president and governors are exempted from paying tax.

Senator Faisal Raza Abidi, a political adviser of the president, earlier promised to share details of Zardari’s assets but on Wednesday said that Faryal Talpur, the president’s sister, deals with the president’s business matters. Attempts to reach Talpur, however, remained fruitless.

PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal also promised to share details of the Sharif brothers’ declared assets and taxes that the two had paid but he too could not provide the information. According to some media reports, Nawaz had paid only Rs5,000 in taxes in 2009.

Tax evasion is common in Pakistan, particularly among the elite class. In a nation of 180 million, registered taxpayers are a mere 1.97 million, the FBR’s data shows. The world is now exerting pressure on the rulers to overhaul the tax laws that overburden existing taxpayers, mostly the salaried class, and provide a safe haven to the richest.

The ambiguity in taxation laws led to a dispute between the FBR chief and Auditor-General of Pakistan Tanvir Ali Agha about whether the FBR can hand over General Musharraf’s tax file and the auditor-general can receive it. According to Ahmed, the income tax ordinance restrained him from disclosing the tax details of taxpayers except in specific cases and the auditor-general of Pakistan’s office can seek the information for audit purposes.

Though the files were returned to the FBR, according to sources the former president had declared assets worth Rs43 million and paid Rs150,000 in taxes in 2007-08 and Rs15,000 in 2009 against a salary of 48 days that he received till he resigned from office. Musharraf declared two houses, one in Islamabad and one in Karachi, three plots and 50 acres of land in Bahawalpur. PML-N’s Asif has accused that the auditor-general and FBR chairperson are showing their loyalties to General Musharraf.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2010.