FBR clarifies

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has strongly denied a news item published in a section of the press captioned "Duplicated collection figures irk FBR highups" insinuating that the collection figures reported to and by the FBR include duplication.

In an official statement issued on Friday, the FBR clarified that it followed a meticulous process of reporting revenue collection and took all possible care to preclude duplication or misreporting of figures. Furthermore, these figures are authenticated and reconciled not only with the State Bank of Pakistan, but also with the AGPR. Therefore, the question of fudging of figures does not merit consideration.

The FBR also clarified that no inquiry on the issue of duplicate reporting was being conducted. In order to strengthen internal controls and management, the FBR like all responsible organisations continuously endeavours to streamline its core business processes and reporting mechanisms and such efforts may not be scandalized by insinuations of any wrongdoing by the FBR or its field offices.

It is reiterated that the revenue collection figures reported by the FBR were totally reliable and the provisional collection figures announced at the end of each month were invariably on the lower side and the final reconciled collection figures were always higher than the provisional figures.

The reporter, Mehtab Haider, stands by the story