Federal Tax Ombudsman Dr Asif Mahmood Jah has recommended termination from service of four senior FBR officials for issuing fake tax refund, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Issuing a ‘red alert’, the tax ombudsman recommended the removal from service of former Lahore tax commissioner and his subordinates for allegedly issuing fake tax refund worth Rs123.03 million.
Dr Asif Mehmood Jah took suo moto notice and after a thorough investigation, it was established that grade-21’s Chaudhary Tariq Muhammad, grade-21’s Syed Nadeem Hussain Rizvi, grade-21’s Dr Sarmad Qureshi and Deputy Commissioner IR Ishfaq Ahmed were involved in issuing the fake tax refund.
As per the ombudsman recommendation, the companies which received these fake tax refunds were also mentioned in the ‘red card’.
The fake tax refund scam occurred from 2007 to 2011 and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) did not take any action against these officers.
It has been alleged that FBR and Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) field officers were also responsible for negligence and even extended cooperation in this regard.
Reporter Waqas Azeem