Supreme Court’s warning to FBR: Don’t play games with us

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed annoyance over the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in illegal refund case with the court warning the FBR not to “play with it”. A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed heard the case.

During the proceedings, the FBR Chairman, Shabbar Zaidi, submitted a report regarding refund. The counsel for the FBR said that action had been taken against Ashfaq Dino who got illegal refund.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan said the additional commissioner was not mentioned in the report. He asked who was the authorised officer, according to the rules. The counsel replied that the additional commissioner approves amount more than one million rupees. He said the authorised officer was the deputy commissioner. He said that the additional commissioner did not approve the refund.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan asked if the deputy commissioner was authorised, where did the additional commissioner come from? This means the deputy commissioner had approved the refund, he added.

The chief justice said that Rs874.7 million was looted from the national exchequer and asked how the amount would be recovered and what the FBR is doing for recovery of the amount.

Shabbar Zaidi said the FBR was recovering the amount on its own. The chief justice asked how the inquiry was conducted without record. He said what will happen if the appeal is rejected.

The chief justice said the court is aware that an old inquiry report will be submitted if any officer of the FBR does malpractices and the FBR can’t catch him. He said nobody is talking honestly. “We don’t know what’s going on in this institution. Don’t play with the court,” the chief justice warned.

The court directed the FBR to complete the investigation against Deputy Commissioner Sales Tax Abdul Hameed Anjum in three months and disposed of the case.