PAC orders audit of Supreme Court budget

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has asked for details of salaries, perks and privileges and plots of judges of the superior judiciary in one month in addition to an audit of the Supreme Court budget.

The PAC held its meeting with MNA Noor Alam Khan in the chair in which the audit paras relating to the Federal Board of Revenue for the year 2020-21 were examined.

With regard to the salary, perks and privileges of the superior judiciary, the Auditor General of Pakistan said that they were not getting access to the records.

PAC member Shahida Akhtar Ali said Canal Road Lahore was closed because of the leader of a political party. Noor Alam responded: “You are talking about Canal Road Lahore, this is the situation of the whole country. No one is interested in ending the VIP culture.” He said citizens were being tormented even during cricket matches and sought a response from the Ministry of Interior in the next meeting.

While examining the FBR audit paras, Noor Alam said that the PAC had asked for a list of FBR officers who had been posted at the same place for the last three years. The Auditor General of Pakistan responded that the FBR had not provided the list.

The PAC chairman said that he had also asked for income and tax details of the house owners in posh sectors of Islamabad but no report was received. The PAC directed to get tax and income details from owners in sectors of G-6 to G-13, F-6 to F-9 and E-7.

The FBR chairman told the committee that the Board had asked the CDA for ownership records and once the records were received, door-to-door verification would begin. The PAC took notice of the FBR’s failure to provide complete records to the audit and decided to write a letter to the Cabinet Division and Finance Ministry.

The committee directed that all ministries and their attached departments besides corporations must provide complete records to the audit authorities.

The FBR chairman said that audit officials could not be given complete access to the FBR records due to some security issues. While the audit officials said that they were handed a CD which contained data of FBR’s choice. The PAC expressed its annoyance at that. In the PAC meeting, irregularities of Rs143.11 billion were revealed in the FBR audit report of the fiscal year 2021-22.

The audit officials said that due to incorrect estimation of income in nine field offices of the FBR, there was a loss of Rs40 billion in taxes. The FBR chairman said that out of that, Rs4.20 billion were owed by three banks and a fertilizer company. The PAC directed the Board to complete the collections early.

The FBR chairman said that companies and individuals would get a stay when they were asked to pay taxes. He also said that due to restrictions on imports, the Board was facing difficulties in achieving its collection target.

He told the committee that the dollar was expected to depreciate after the IMF deal and things would start improving by the end of the month.

He said that after the implementation of new taxes of Rs170 billion, the target of FBR had gone up to Rs7,600 billion.

The PAC chairman said that the smuggling of goods and foreign currency from the borders was increasing and asked for the Customs department’s strategy to prevent smuggling.

Member Customs Operations told the committee that smuggling was taking place through Chagai in Balochistan as there was no border fence there. “If action is taken, riots start there,” he added.

Noor Alam said that they had to look at the country’s interest, not care about riots. The Member Customs Operations said that anti-smuggling powers rest with the Frontier Corps (FC).

Committee member Barjees Tahir said that dollars were being smuggled to Afghanistan through trucks and Customs officials were sleeping.

Committee member Riaz Mazari said. “Don’t waste time on the FBR, and if you can, call and ask those who allow smuggling.”

The FBR chairman said that Customs had seized smuggled goods worth Rs38 billion till February 2023. The FBR chairman said that in our border areas, only notified checkposts had been manned.

He said the prime minister had declared the Interior Ministry as the focal ministry for anti-trafficking. “I have requested the prime minister to give this role to the FBR,” he said, adding that in this regard, the rules of business were being changed.

The FBR official told the committee that the Customs department had stopped the smuggling of foreign currency worth $4.5 million in one year.