KARACHI: Lutfullah Virk a BS-22 officer of Pakistan Customs Service (PCS) is retiring on October 30, 2015 after having a highly decorated carrier. His retirement would be followed by a reshuffling at the highest ranks as this would leave a BS-22 office vacant.
Lutfullah Virk has remained Director General, Intelligence and Investigation – FBR, Islamabad from March 2014 to October, 2015.
It has been known that Mohammad Saleem will given the adhoc charge of Director General I&I and then he would continue to be DG I&I under original pay scale (OPS).
Moreover, Central Selection Board (CSB) would meet in December 2015 to consider the appointment for a Grade-22 seat being vacant. Member Customs Nisar Mohammad Khan has been instrumental in streamlining the affairs at Pakistan Customs. He eliminated the concessionary rate of customs duty of zero percent and a large number of concessionary SROs were eliminated resulting in significant increase in legitimate government revenue.
Nisar Mohammad Khan knows his team well and he posted reputed and competent officers at sensitive posts.
It is likely that Nisar Mohammad Khan would be promoted in Grade-22 and there are high chances that his next office would be the Federal Secretary Commerce. Nasir Masroor is likely to be the next Member Customs.
Chairman FBR Tariq Bajwa is also retiring in March 2015. His tenure has been a catalyst for the FBR and all formations of Customs and Inland Revenue thrived under his leadership.
It may be mentioned here that Lutfullah Virk during this tenure a number of mega cases of evasion of duty / taxes and anti-smuggling were made.
The LUNAR (ISAF) container case has been Virk’s achievement and misuse of the facility was detected. To name a few TP replacement case, in which billions of revenue loss was inflicted, forged invoice fraud, misuse of SRO 1125(I)/2011, misuse of Pak-China FTA, Bol TV case, ,is-declaration and under-invoicing of auto parts, NATO/ISAF Reverse cargo pilferage case, mis-declaration and M/s Smart Zone case were among his achievements.
It was known that Nisar Mohammad Khan and Lutfullah Virk has recommended Mohammad Saleem for the post of DG I&I Customs given his shinning record at MCC Appraisement West.
Streamlining the past 90-day data is his biggest achievement, as the data had been corrupted and the exchequer was suffering a loss of over of Rs1.0 billion.
Mohammad Saleem also busted import of banned pharmaceutical chemical as well as mis-declaration and under-invoicing of pharmaceutical raw material imports.
Vehicle surcharge case in which due to erroneous calculation, revenue was lost is also his credit. He also reopened shelved cases and effected recovery of revenue.
Business Process Improvement is Mohammad Saleem’s achievement as it not only resulted in the expansion of WeBOC system, it also facilitated trade.
Lutfullah Virk’s retirement heralds surprising reshuffling in bureaucracy
