ISLAMABAD , April 13, 2023: President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday admonished the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for disclosing the whistle-blower’s identity to the tax-evading private company. The company allegedly committed financial irregularities.
Alvi ordered the premier tax collection agency to submit a report within 60 days and also explain why the board failed to fully utilise the information provided by the whistle-blower to recover the maximum sales tax amount from the company that caused losses to the national kitty.
The president rejected a representation filed by the FBR against the order of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO), saying this is abhorrent to the whistle-blower concept and legislation. Instead of taking advantage, the FBR has been very lax in its attitude.”
The whistle-blower had reported large-scale tax evasion by a private company to the FBR by risking his life, and resultantly received threats from the company.
The president also directed FBR to revisit its relevant assessment order and provide the whistle-blower with an opportunity for a hearing.
The FBR received complaint from Muhammad Ilyas that the company was indulged in various financial irregularities by maintaining bank accounts in the names of its employees, concealing warehouses with undeclared stock, less tax payment, and under-invoicing at import stage using similar names and style of another company, and thus, causing huge losses to the national exchequer.
The Board launched proceedings against the company and recovered Rs15.251 million, however, the amount recovered was too short due to the inefficient use of annexures provided by the complainant.
The employee had filed complaints to the FBR chairman regarding tax evasion, however, after not getting any results, he took up the matter with Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO).