Fist fight over ‘speed-money’ in FBR triggers transfer, inquiry

ISLAMABAD: A fist fight over share in the ‘speed money’ received from a company and trespassing the jurisdiction in dealing with the ‘cut’ matters have unmasked internal wrangling of the tax machinery and how money changes hands when refunds are issued.

However, this led to the transfer of officers from the lucrative posts as the news of the fight made its way into the social media. An FBR spokesperson confirmed the occurrence of such an incident but opted not to go into details unless the facts are duly verified. 

He said his department took a pro-active action by removing the officers being alleged so that a fair inquiry into this case could be made. Abid Bodla, chief commissioner of the Corporate Tax Office Lahore, will head the fact-finding inquiry, said Bakhtiar Muhammad, the spokesperson. 

The issue started over the tax refund of an air conditioning manufacturing company. A refund of Rs 550 million was ordered to be released. And a 10 percent ‘cut’ of Rs 55 million was agreed. Everything was fine up to this stage. Dispute emerged over the share in it as an officer from an unrelated field formation of the FBR was negotiating the deal in return of a certain share in the ‘cut’. 

He was said to be in contact with the company’s representative. The tax officer who was competent to issue the refund was told that a cheque of Rs55 million had been issued. Issuers of the refund as well as the facilitators and enablers of this deal will get their percentage from the ‘cut’ depending upon their role and the rank. 

However, the situation went haywire once the enabler of this deal succumbed to temptation. He allegedly received the ‘cut’ from the company in cash and shared it with his immediate and distant bosses including the one who has received ‘performance award’ from the government. However, the one who sanctioned the release of the refund was deprived of his part in the ‘cut.’ 

He was told that the cheque issued for the amount released by the company under the head of the ‘cut’ has bounced, which appeared to be part of the script that the amount would be received in cash. As the sanctioning officer took up the ‘cut’ matter with the company, he was told that it had been released in the form of cash. This sense of being abandoned made him hit the roof. 

He called the enabling officers at his office who were junior in rank but belong to the different formation. Instead of being apologetic, the junior officer provoked to start a fist fight. 

He also ordered his staff to bring a pistol from his car. The situation was pacified by the staff however the news spread like a wild fire resulting in removal of all the suspected stakeholders of this ‘cut’ from their positions and an inquiry has been ordered to determine the facts.