Senate panel resents caretaker govt move to revamp FBR

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Finance has strongly opposed the restructuring plan amid the FBR chairman’s briefing that over 1,000 laws would have to be changed to operationalize the upcoming bifurcated structure.

The senators were perturbed over the Law Ministry’s stance that the caretaker government could bring about key legislations. The committee decided to summon the caretaker law minister in the upcoming meeting to get an explanation whether the interim regime possessed the powers to introduce or amend the law in the absence of parliament.

Senator Saadia Abbasi took a strong exception over the caretaker’s move to bring about such key changes in the FBR restructuring plan and asked the government to leave it to the upcoming government to take this decision.

Moreover, the committee was briefed on the news circulating in the media concerning the restructuring of FBR. The FBR chairman stated that the government was undertaking the restructuring of FBR and its finalization requires amendments to the FBR Act. The committee asked if the interim government was mandated to undertake such restructuring.

The Senate body discussed the motion moved by Senator Zarqa Suharwardy on controlling the non-development expenditure of the government. The secretary of the Finance Division stated that the government was complying with austerity measures, resulting in government spending for the current fiscal year staying within the budget. The committee directed the Finance Division to provide details of the budget saved following the issuance of austerity measures notification issued by the Finance Division.

The Senate committee got alarmed over a public petition where one complainant alleged that their family sent out Rs416 million to a bank in Karachi in 2017, which went missing when they were outside the country. The SBP Governor, Jameel Ahmed, stated that it was an internal rift due to which this episode occurred. However, the committee members argued that the SBP was protecting the bank instead of depositors. The committee decided to summon the chairman of the bank, FIA, SBP and other law enforcement agencies to come up with facts of this case.

The aggrieved party apprised the committee that they had transferred the amount to a bank in Karachi in 2017. However, last year when they went to the bank for withdrawal, the bank replied that they had already withdrawn the amount and closed their account. They further added that bank officials had withdrawn their money by committing forgery and, currently, the matter was with the FIA. Senator Saleem Mandviwalla stated that in the recent period, certain events have revealed that the State Bank has failed to protect the interests of depositors.