Senate panel objects to FBR move to buy 1,010 vehicles

ISLAMABAD: Criticising the FBR’s move to purchase 1,010 vehicles for operational purposes at an estimated cost of Rs6 billion, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue Wednesday instructed the Board to stop the procurement.

It also decided to write a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Minister for Finance Mohammad Aurangzeb to stop the FBR from going ahead with the purchase. Chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, the committee severely grilled the FBR.

No senior official, including the FBR chairman and members, attended the committee meeting except the chief admin. Senator Faisal Vawda raised the issue. The panel grilled the FBR’s chief admin who failed to justify the purchase. The chief admin argued that the ECC had approved the purchase meant for operational purposes. He said procurement and technical committees were constituted for the purchase. He further said the process was initiated many months ago and it was not done in haste. He said when the advertisement was released, the PPRA Rules allowed direct contracting after a market survey.

The committee strongly objected to the summary to ECC specifying vehicles up to 1300cc to favour a specific company and asked why other companies were left out. It further asked as to why a competitive bidding process was not followed. The FBR representative took the stance that the government wanted to enhance the board’s operational capacity under the transformation plan. “We cannot go above the engine capacity of 1300cc as per the summary approved by the ECC,” he said. However, the committee asked why the 1300cc limit had been set in the summary.

“Why do you write something like this when you cut out all the manufacturers? It looks like the 1300cc condition has been set by design,” said Mandviwalla. He said the FBR should be transparent while granting the contract. “It is very disturbing to hear that the FBR has committed such kind of thing. The social media is full of comments on the sudden procurement of vehicles for FBR employees,” he said, adding, “I have also talked to Minister of State for Finance Ali Pervaiz Malik, who agrees that they will look into it if the process had not been dully followed.”

Vawda informed the committee that the FBR had rewarded its officials by giving vehicles worth Rs6 billion instead of addressing the tax shortfall of Rs384 billion during the first six months of the current fiscal year. He said there was no specific competition while granting contact to a specific manufacturer. The FBR is purchasing expensive vehicles without competition, he added. “This is a scam and scandal which needs to be stopped,” he said. “We will give the FBR Rs10 billion worth of vehicles instead of Rs6 billion but first it must overcome the revenue shortfall of Rs384 billion or reduce the existing shortfall.”

“This is open corruption, and we will not sit idle,” he asserted, accusing the FBR of misusing the government funds. He proposed that the committee write to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to halt the purchase, demanding a competitive bidding process for any future vehicle acquisitions. “If these vehicles are bought, I will take the matter to NAB and FIA,” Vawda warned, calling for further scrutiny of the issue.

The committee also took up the issue of Pakistan’s lagging digital payment systems. Despite the global success of digital payment platforms, including QR code systems, Pakistan remains behind in adopting such technologies. The committee expressed concern over the lack of a national digital payment infrastructure.

The committee set a firm deadline for the establishment of a robust digital payment system before June 30, 2025.