FBR suspends six officers on corruption charges

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has suspended six officials of the Inland Revenue Service (IRS) on the charges of corruption and irregularities.
According to a notification issued on Friday, the officers of BS-16 to BS-18 have been suspended under the Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973 for a period of three months.
The officers, who have been put under suspension, included Wali Muhammad Shaikh, BS-18, Deputy Commissioner, Regional Tax Office (RTO)-II, Karachi; Shafqat Rasool Sindhu, BS-18, Deputy Commissioner, RTO, Gujranwala; Narjes Shaheen Ali Khan, BS-17, Assistant Commissioner, RTO, Multan; Ali Saleh Hayat Kalyar, BS-17, Assistant Commissioner, RTO, Sargodha; Muhammad Awais Ishaque, BS-17, Assistant Commissioner, RTO, Islamabad; and Sadiq Ali Bangash, BS-16, Inland Revenue Officer, RTO, Peshawar.
The latest suspension of officers is part of the ongoing drive of the authorities to root out corruption from the tax department.
Since the start of 2015, the revenue authority has taken harsh stance on reported corruption cases and dismissed several senior officers and officials from services.
The Federal Board of Revenue has also sent some cases to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for further perusal.
In this regard, the National Accountability Bureau had already established a preventive committee on the FBR for revenue leakages and elimination of corruption. The committee has been formed on the basis of a report by the Transparency International Pakistan in which it highlighted annual leakages worth Rs2,000 billion in 2013.