A report submitted to the Standing Committee on Finance revealed that during the current FBR Chairman’s tenure, dozens of Chief Collectors and Collectors received billions of rupees in reward money by posing as informants.
They claimed rewards even for goods seized by Intelligence agencies. Their modus operandi involved the Collector of the relevant collectorate registering themselves as the informant for seized consignments; furthermore, the value of the seized goods originally worth, say, 10 million rupees would be inflated to 100 million rupees to maximize the reward payout.
According to the report, over ten Collectors pocketed millions in rewards by acting as covert informants, subsequently selling the seized goods in the market and setting fire to the warehouses to destroy evidence.
Sources indicate that Jameel Nasir, the current Chief Collector (Enforcement), brought this matter to the attention of sensitive agencies. Upon receiving the report, the Standing Committee sought a formal response from the FBR Chairman. Consequently, the FBR Chairman directed the Chief Collectors (Appraisement South-Karachi, Appraisement North-Peshawar, Enforcement-Islamabad, Appraisement Punjab-Lahore, and Appraisement Balochistan) and the Director General (I&RM) to submit reports covering the past two years.
These reports were required to detail the number of cases registered in each collectorate, the number of informant codes issued and the cases linked to them, the monetary value of rewards paid to informants, and the number of Customs officers who received rewards under the guise of informants.
According to reports, a report has also been sought regarding the ten collectors who received award money amounting to 200 million rupees. Sources indicate that, in the wake of this massive misappropriation of funds running into billions, an amendment bill will be introduced in the coming months to ensure that Customs officers can no longer loot public funds under the guise of using “informers”; their mandate is to intercept smuggled goods, not to engage in plunder using the pretext of fictitious informants.
Public and social circles have demanded that the Prime Minister of Pakistan take strict action against the Customs officers involved in this multi-billion rupee racket.
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