Minister clarifies news item

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar Monday took exception to a news item published in The News on Monday stating that an FBR team raided a steel mill owned by an influential minister was called back without collecting the required information.

In a statement, the minister said, “I take exception to the above allegations in the strongest possible terms. Firstly, there was no raid and the FBR field units were under instructions to visit all steel and textile mills in a blanket form to ascertain and gather data on their carryover stocks that are lying with all of them. This was done because both the sectors are transitioning to a new sales tax regime. To label such visits as ‘raids’ was uncalled for and misleading.

Secondly, it was alleged in that news piece that the said team left the premises without collecting the information they were seeking. That is also a wrong statement as the team collected all the information they were required to collect and the employees of the firm were all told to extend their complete cooperation with the visiting FBR staff.

Thirdly, it was also alleged in the news report that the SOP of field visits was changed as a result of this particular visit to a premises owned by an ‘influential minister’. This implication was drawn without any shred of evidence and cannot be any further from the truth. The decision to modify the SOP as a result of the feedback received from the general public was already taken a whole day prior to this particular visit and the communication to the field staff was yet pending.

Let me finally state that the visit of the FBR team to a commercial firm that is partly owned by a sitting minister displays the will of the PTI government to enforce the laws of the country equally and without discrimination on all citizens irrespective of their designations or affiliations.

Meanwhile, the FBR’s Commissioner Inland Revenue Zone-IV, CRTO Lahore contacted this reporter and sent out a press release through Whatsapp stating that the exercise of stocktaking of steel mills falling within the jurisdiction of CRTO Lahore was already underway in accordance with the FBR’s instructions dated 22.06.2019, 29.06.2019 and 03.07.2019 respectively.

The same includes requisition of stock-position from the steel sector units, details of unconsumed stocks in Annex-K from LESCO and physical verification of stocks of large scale steel manufacturing units.

It is further clarified that in no case of a large scale manufacturer of steel mill the visiting team has been called back without completing the entire exercise of obtaining the stock-position and its physical verification on the spot. Thus news item appearing in a section of print media regarding calling back of team without completing the stocktaking exercise is contrary to the facts and is accordingly denied, the statement concluded.

Mehtab Haider adds: This reporter did not create an imaginative story but narrated what had happened through “raid or inspection or visit” of the FBR team. What will you call if the FBR team without prior information visited any mill/unit and started inspecting carryover stocks?

This reporter had just narrated facts, as the FBR team collected the data before receiving a call from the Board’s headquarters so whether they collected whole required information or not was not yet known. The minister himself in his written reply told this reporter, “Now they have been told to change SOP so that the entities provide details themselves”.

On the other hand, the minister also used it to demonstrate that the FBR used its powers to enforce the law equally whereby he stated “Let me finally state that the visit of the FBR team to a commercial firm that is partly owned by a sitting minister displays the will of the PTI government to enforce the laws of the country equally and without discrimination on all citizens irrespective of their designations or affiliations”. This reporter got versions of all sides including the minister for revenues, chairman FBR and many other sources and incorporated all of them in his story. This reporter has played the role of postman by narrating happenings on the ground and stands by his story.