KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has sought clearance data from Appraisement-West regarding vehicles cleared under amnesty scheme prior to the year 2004.
Reliable sources informed Customs Today that the FBR through a letter has asked the additional collector (ADC -I) of the collectorate concerned to provide details of the vehicles.
Sources further disclosed that the FBR also asked the additional collector to provide the said details as soon as possible, so that further proceedings could be initiated in the light of the provided data/information.
They further said that the FBR has decided to investigate and check the clearance of vehicles under amnesty scheme with great diligence.
It is pertinent to mention here that two cases of dubious clearance of vehicles under amnesty scheme have already been unearthed on which the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) Office has asked the customs authorities to conduct an inquiry into the cases and present a detailed reports.
In this regard, ADC-I Saeed Akram was appointed for investigation of the scam, after which dubious clearance of 342 vehicles was unearthed. He has already stated in his report that the then customs officials and officers were involved in clearance of those vehicles by using unfair means.
It may be further mentioned here that another ADC, Irfan Javed, is still inquiring the matter, forwarded by the FTO, in which it sought thorough investigation of around 482 cases regarding clearance of vehicles under the amnesty scheme in violation of SRO 144 (I)/2007.