KARACHI: There have been significant developments at Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), wherein certain officers were moved from Admin Pool, SHC has summoned Customs I&I Karachi Officers in contempt proceedings, while there is a rumor that Chairman FBR Amjad Zubair Tiwana has sought early retirement. Reportedly, Tiwana was criticized by Prime Minister for his performance.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has notified transfers of five BS-17/16 officers to their news offices with immediate effect.
Superintendent Saeed Farooqi, Intelligence Officers Shabbir Ahmed and Zia-ur-Rehman are posted at the office of Chief, (Customs Operations), FBR.
Intelligence Officers Hamid Habib and Muhammad Hanif Kurd are posted at Secretary (Legal-Customs), FBR.
FBR had moved a large number of Customs and IRS officers to Admin Pool, on the basis of concocted intelligence reports. The officers transferred to Admin Pool had decided to approach the High Court against the transfers. However, to avoid controversy and litigation, FBR notified transfers of certain officers to their new postings as mentioned above.
Irshad Shah had been transferred to Admin Pool. In response to a petition filed by Irshad Shah, dated July 01, 2024 Sindh high Court stayed his transfer to the Admin Pool and fixed the hearing for August 15, 2024. Shah will continue in his current capacity till August 15. However, Shah was not reinstated on his post. Therefore, he approached the Court with a contempt of court application.
In an order dated July 30, 2024, Sindh High Court has summoned Masood Ahmed Director, Directorate of Intelligence & Investigation (DIT), Afzal Ahmed Watto, Acting Director and Deputy Director Muhammad Wasif Malik to appear personally in the court on 15.8 2024. A similar order was passed a day earlier in another suit filed by 12 other officers.
Ahead of High Powered Board (HPB) meeting scheduled in mid-May, Chairman FBR, Malik Amjad Zubair Tiwana (BS-21), became a controversial officer for outmaneuvering his superiors in seniority. He is 23rd on the seniority list.
The top spot on the list is held by Shah Banu, a highly regarded officer with a reputation for competence. Not only she has ably served in customs , coast guards, income tax, excise and adjudication, she is highly regarded by FBR employees as the officer incharge of IJP process that brought successful reforms and doubled stipend to highly demoralised fbr work force in 2005 to 2008 under the same biased regime of 2000 that had previously published a list of thousands under removal from service ordinance. Mrs. Shahbanu has been posted in virtual OSD posts since 2015. Even after her promotion to BS 21 in 2018 she was kept in a budget less post without any operational authority or access. Just before the High powered board she already virtual OSD got pushed to admin pool to keep her out of promotion board. Questions have been raised about the veracity of socalled intelligence reports that have been used to sideline officers like Shah Banu, who have not held functional postings in recent years.
Allegations also surfaced that Chairman Tiwana might be misguiding Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to secure his own promotion and retain his FBR chairmanship that has recently come under fire due to rise in tax burden of fuel prices and consequently energy costs leading to rampant inflation. Sources claim that Tiwana has allegedly misused the names of intelligence agencies to discredit his senior fellow officers. A move that reportedly drawn the ire of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).