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Karachi, Sat August 19, 2017

ISLAMABAD

M FAIZAN

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he Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has set Rs 600 billion revenue collection target under the head of customs duty for the current Linancial year (2017-18), which is almost 30 percent higher than the last Linancial year. A decision to this effect was taken during a

recently concluded Chief Collectors and Director General’s conference held at the FBR headquarters. In the conference, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Chairman Federal Board of Revenue Tariq Mehmood Pasha lauded the performance of the Pakistan Customs and especially appreciate the role of Member Customs Zahid Khokhar and his team for collecting record revenue under the head of customs duty. They hoped that the level of perform-

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ance will be maintained during the current Linancial year. It is pertinent to mention here that in last Linancial year (2016-17) Pakistan Customs was collected Rs. 496 billion in the head of customs duty against the set target of Rs.461 billion. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Chairman FBR has empowered to Member Customs Zahid Khokhar that he will be free to make all kind of decisions regarding the customs department, in the interest of the FBR.

FBR assigns Rs 600b customs duty collection target for FY2017-18

Quetta Customs seizes NDP goods worth Rs7.1m in ten days of August

‘FBR will not revise revenue collection targets for FY2017-18’

Sri Lanka Customs seizes toxic tobacco products worth Rs3.5 million

Hyderabad Customs Preventive seizes 33 smuggled tyres, 277 daries

FBR has set Rs 600 billion revenue collection target under the head of CD | See pAge 01 |

The Collectorate seized smuggled items worth Rs7.1 million in first ten days | See pAge 02 |

CollectorDrAsifMahmoodJahhasordered thereleaseofsmuggledgoodsonpayment | See pAge 05 |

Sri Lanka Customs at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake | See pAge 07 |

ASO Hyderabad, Customs Preventive Sukkur, impounded 33 smuggled tyres | See pAge 08 |

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Tax evasion: NAB body for slashing FBR’s powers Saturday, August 19, 2017

National

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Prevention Committee on Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to identify the loopholes in the Taxation Rules, Regulations & Procedures and Tax Evasion has recommended to end the FBR’s regulatory authority of curbing tax evasion. The NAB committee has asked the government to establish Pakistan Revenue Regularity Authority (PRRA) for this purpose. This authority must be under the supervision of the prime minister, it said, adding that the PRRA would direct report to the PM.

Quetta customs seizes NDp goods worth rs7.1m in ten days of August

ISLAMABAD

QUETTA

NAeeM uLLAh tArIQ

wAQAr AhMeD ANSArI

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he Federal Service Tribunal again directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to record fresh submissions in diﬀerent cases during first week of August. The bench also rejected board’s plea, seeking time to submit record on cases of implementation and promotion filed by employees of FBR. A division bench of the FST comprising Ishtiaq Ahmed and Dr Nazir Saeed and Member Rafique Shah and Dr Nazir heard the cases filed by the FBR employees. FST division bench comprising Members, Ishtiaq Ahmed and Dr Nazir Saeed heard the cases about promotion. The bench directed the counsels to assist the bench on the cases with provision of further details of cases. The bench asked the sides to present the detailed archival record on the cases. Inamul Haq, Muhammad Moosa Jamali, Inayatullah Khattak, Dost Muhammad, Ajmal Khan, Muhammad Haroon Khattak and Wasatullah Jaﬀari had filed the complaints. As the arguments resumed, counsels from responding side sought more time. Upon this the bench rejected board’s plea and directed the counsels to submit related record at the earliest.

ustoms Intelligence and Investigations expedited their efforts to curb smuggling. The Collectorate seized smuggled items worth Rs7.1 million in Lirst ten days of August, which included Iranian diesel, Iranian juices, large number of non duty paid mobile phones, electronics items, fake number plates and different other things. Sources told Customs Today that Deputy Collector Customs Preventive Junaid Mehmood received credible information that some smugglers are trying to smuggle Indian silk to Mirpurkhas. He immediately constituted a raiding team. The team enhanced vigilance in the area of Bara Market and started searching operation of vehicles, after some time the team intercepted the truck bearing registration number BL-3726 which was coming from Karachi. During checking , custom ofLicer found 12000 meters of Indian silk. The team seized all cloth. The market value of seized Indian silk cloth is Rs 2.6 million. Sources told that during another crackdown the Customs Quetta team seized two non customs paid Heavy Generator The team raided in small factory located in Highway Road, during different operations and recovered two German origin Heavy Commercial

FSt seeks record on complaints filed by FBr employees

Generator. The customs team arrested the watchman of factory. The market value of molding machines is Rs3.2 millon. Sources said this is the seventh raid in the month of August. Meanwhile, The Customs Intelligence and Investigations continued its action against smuggling during

the current month of August. According to the details, the Directorate General of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Quetta, during a crackdown on smuggling, seized 2,000 bottles of Iranian juices and Iranian grease valued Rs 2.2 million. The diesel was set to be smug-

gled into different cities of Pakistan. Sources told Customs Today that Deputy Collector Customs Preventive Junaid Mehmood received credible information that some smugglers are trying to smuggle Iranian juices from Quetta into different cities of Pakistan.

customs preventive seizes jewellery, memory cards at JIAp C

KARACHI

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ustoms Preventive has foiled a bid to smuggle gold ornaments and memory cards at Jinnah International Airport. A Customs spokesperson said that the action was taken by officials after Customs Deputy Collector Yousuf Ali Khan provided information regarding possible smuggling of

gold. “We had a tip-off about the arrival of three passengers with smuggled gold,” he said. “The passengers were arriving from Dubai on Emirates airline flight EK-602. We intercepted the passengers and foiled the smuggling bid.” The passengers, who were intercepted and later arrested, were identified as Muhammad Imran, Anila Haroon and Maheen Patel. The Customs officials also claimed to have recovered a huge cache of memory

cards from their possession. According to the spokesperson, 5kg of gold jewellery worth nearly Rs20 million and 24,000 memory cards worth Rs2.5 million were recovered from the suspects during physical checking. “The suspects had hidden jewellery and memory cards in the clothes they were wearing,” revealed the spokesperson. A case was registered against them and further investigations are under way.

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ISLAMABAD M FAIZAN www.customsbulletin.com

ember Inland Revenue Policy and spokesman Federal Board of Revenue Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, has made it clear that Saudi and Dubai Iqamas will not affect the agreement between Pakistan and Switzerland on exchange of information. In an interview with Customs Today, Dr Iqbal said that Swiss government will 100 percent comply with agreement. Dubai and Saudi Iqamas will not save those Pakistanis who have operated bank accounts in Switzerland, he added. He said that there is no reality in the stories that if any Pakistani has the Iqama of Dubai or UAE then Switzerland will not reveal the account details. He said that the FBR will not revise the tax revenue collection targets for the current financial year (2017-18). However, the FBR will do maximum efforts and mobilize all resources to meet the targets. Further investigations on Panama Leaks are underway. Those Pakistanis whose names are in the list FBR has sent their names and addresses to the Regional Tax OfLices concerned, they are working on it, with the cooperation of Directorate General Intelligence and Investigation In-

Saturday, August 19, 2017

land Revenue FBR. He said under the dynamic leadership and supervision of Chairman FBR Tariq Mehmood Pasha, Federal Board of Revenue has successfully achieved the tax revenue target of the Lirst month (July) of current Linancial year 2017-18. He said, “We already assigned the revenue collection target of Rs200 billion and FBR have collected Rs204 billion and I hoped that we can also achieve the an-

nual revenue target.” “More than 1,250,000 people Liled tax returns, hence, in 2013 number of tax returns was 750,000. There are laws to deal with tax evasion and this year we will tight the rope around tax evaders because it is nation’s money. If we want to see Pakistan a strong, secure and developed country, than we will have to promote the tax culture. Every patriotic Pakistani must pay his/her due share in taxes,” he added. He further said we are closely watching working of IRIS software, if people would face any problem during the return filing, FBR will resolve the issue. FBR is also focusing on money laundering issues and we have issued strict instructions to all field formations and they are actively pursuing every kind of information in this regard. He said FBR is successfully moving forward on pilot project on Automatic Exchange of t ill no Information. After the completion w s a m di Iqa of this project FBR will exchange ve u a a h S o d an s wh i information with 104 other n a t D ubai s ki countries including USA and nts in ose pa u h t o c e c v sa ka at n h a t England regarding the tax matb d i d a s te opera ed. he ters and the bank accounts of t d a d h a t e s d, h orie n t Pakistani citizens. s a l r e e h z t

of Swit it y in Iqama o re a l n e s h i t e s ther ni ha d will akista zerlan t i w S fi any p then tails or uAe unt de o c c a D ubai he veal t n o t re

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eDItorIAL

economic policies must continue

fter his disqualification as prime minister by the judiciary, Nawaz Sharif embarked on a long march from Islamabad to his hometown Lahore to mark a show of power and public support. However, political analysts have raised eyebrows over his ‘innocent’ move and deem it as an act of defiance against judiciary which can plunge the country into further crisis. The ouster of Nawaz Sharif has not only exposed the inherent flaws in political parties, but also lack of vision, will and trust of the socalled public representatives in the democratic process. It has also exposed the real strength of the heads of political parties all of whom are nothing more than one man shows in their respective domains. The party heads are as if indispensable and it is hard to imagine the survival of a political party without its leader. The pathetic part of the party politics is that only someone from the bloodline is allowed to take charge of the party. All other members of a party hierarchy act as dummies or robots who are programmed to toe the line of the party chiefs in starch contrast to their personal credibility,traditional values or democratic norms. However, the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz lawmakers have agreed to continue Nawaz government’s policies which need consistency and attention. Several infrastructural and developmental projects are in various stages of their completion and have consumed billions of dollars public money. The projects of vital importance cannot be left unattended. If the PML-N wants to stay in politics, the former prime minister will have to be proactive and he has now plenty of time to focus on his much-hyped political vision to steer the country out crisis and prepare his party for the next elections. It is dilemma of this nation that whenever the country starts its journey on the path of development, something unusual comes from out of the blue and spoil the show. According to the world economists, Pakistan economy is heading towards takeoﬀ position, but political crisis send wrong signals to the potential foreign investors. Despite having deposits of billions of dollars in foreign banks and huge real estate businesses in overseas destinations, the corrupt public representatives have failed to satiate their lust for money. It is the time the politicians should show maturity, sincerity and save the political system from any eventuality.

Danger of financial shocks F

LAHORE

Dr AFtAB AFZAL

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ormer State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Husain, in a statement sometime earlier, warned the government to beware of the external and internal shocks to ward off any possible interruption in the way of smooth economic growth. The next year is the election year and could pose risks in many ways. The ruling political parties could be forced to accept unwritten quid pro quo agreements by certain powerful lobbies and pressure groups against their support for unreasonable demands at the time of elections. He admits that Pakistan is again going on upward trajec-

tory which must not be interrupted any stage by anyone. The upward movement should not be disturbed in any way no matter the ruling party comes back to power again or any opposition party wins the election. The continuity of the policies should be ensured at any rate. According to him, inconsistency is detrimental for the economy.The government is claiming that it has achieved macroeconomic stability. The next government will have two paths to follow and that are to consolidate and build upon these gains to undertake policy reforms to help speed up economic growth to reach six to seven percent a year. Otherwise, the government could fritter away these gains and pur-

sue populist measures, appeasing powerful groups, backtracking on reforms and yielding to pressures. There is a need to hear voice of reasons as he has warned the government to avoid approaching the International Monetary Fund during the post-election period by prudently handling the economic management before elections.The current situation critically depends on the prudent management of external accounts. The remittances sent by the expatriate Pakistanis and import of oil are correlated, but the volume of remittances could be lowered if oilproducing countries cut down investment projects and retrench foreign workers due to low oil prices in the international mar-

ket. What needs to do is that to reject external borrowings by increasing the exports of value added goods. The country will have to explore new markets and should integrate into global value chains if it wants to enhance exports.Dr Husain points out Pakistan’s tax capacity which covers only 11 percent of the population and half of the taxpayers are from the salaried classes. But he falls short of advising the tax authorities to simplify tax collection procedure and minimize the involvement of ofLicials in the tax collections. Instead, tax collection should be made on the pattern of the utility bills. A taxpayer should simply visit any bank and deposit the money liable on him.

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Bank of Canada releases Fintech discussion paper Saturday August 19, 2017

World

OTTAWA: In July 2017, the Bank of Canada released a discussion paper outlining a framework for the assessment of risks and opportunities for central banks in connection with Fintech. This paper also more generally explores potential implications of Fintech for central banks, given their mandate over monetary policy, the design and distribution of currency and/or financial stability. One of the reasons that Fintech is being keenly watched by central banks is in connection with its potential implications on monetary policy and the design and distribution of currency. Cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger technology more generally have revived interest in the idea of electronic currency, potentially leveraging such distributed ledger technology.

SL customs seizes toxic tobacco products worth rs3.5 million

uk customs proposals negative for agri sector LONDON

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COLOMBO

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ri Lanka Customs at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake today seized a stock of narcotics and pills made of toxic tobacco brought by two passengers. The Customs say they have arrested the two suspects along with the seizure of the drugs worth Rs. 3.5 million. The suspects have arrived in a Llight from Dubai. According to the Customs, this is the Lirst time drugs made with toxic tobacco have been brought into the country. A 26-year-old Sri Lankan, a resident of Colombo, has brought 1,600 packets of the drugs and an Indian national from Bangalore, India, has arrived with more than 5,000 such pills, the customs said. Further investigations are being conducted regarding raids. Meanwhile, The Sri Lankan rupee

china’s fiscal revenue picks up speed in July hina’s fiscal revenue registered faster growth in July, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Friday. Fiscal revenue gained 11.1 percent year on year to 1.65 trillion yuan (nearly $250 billion) last month, up from the 8.9-percent growth in June, according to the MOF. Fiscal expenditure rose 5.4 percent year on year to 1.35 trillion yuan, slowing from the 19.1-percent increase in June. The MOF said the July’s deceleration was attributed to faster fund allocation than in previous months. Meanwhile, China’s overall vehicles sales grew 6.2 percent in July from a year earlier to 1.97 million vehicles, showing that the world’s largest auto market continues to rebound from the weakness it saw in April and May, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said on Friday. –CB Report

traded steady on Friday as banks and exporters sold the dollar, offseting mild importer demand for the U.S. currency, dealers said. The spot rupee traded at 153.10/15 per dollar at 0650 GMT, compared with Thursday’s close of 153.10/20. “Rupee is trading steady.

We don’t see state banks in the market,” a currency dealer said, requesting anonymity. Sri Lanka’s central bank is targeting a more Llexible exchange rate regime, the government said in a document outlining its policies to the International Monetary Fund.

Denmark charges ow Bunker’s Singapore head with fraud

enmark’s state prosecutor charged the former manager of OW Bunker’s Singapore subsidiary with fraud on Thursday but cleared the Danish management of the failed marine fuel oil supplier of any criminal wrongdoing. OW Bunker Liled for bankruptcy in Denmark in November 2014 after losses at its Singapore business Dynamic Oil Trading, a marked change of fortunes for a Lirm valued at $1 bil-

lion when it listed in March that year. The prosecutor said the former manager, a Danish citizen, has been charged with committing fraud of agent by granting credit outside his mandate worth more than 800 million Danish crowns ($123 million). The prosecutor did not wish to name the defendant but said no reporting restrictions had been imposed. The former head of Dynamic Oil Trading was Lars Moller. –CB Report

he UK’s insistence on leaving the customs union and following an independent trade policy amounts to a hard Brexit and is potentially very negative for Irish agriculture and the value of our agri-food exports, according to the IFA (Irish Farmers’ Association) President Joe Healy. Healy was commenting on the UK Government’s ‘Position Paper on Future Customs Arrangements’, published earlier today, which puts forward options for future customs arrangements between the EU and UK. Healy said: “Ireland is the EU economy that will be the most impacted by a hard Brexit, and farming and agri-food will be the most impacted sector. The president added: “The UK Government has proposed two options – either the reinstate-

ment of a ‘highly streamlined customs arrangement’, or a ‘customs partnership’ which it suggests would not require a customs border between the EU and UK. “The Lirst option would see the reinstatement of a customs border between the EU and UK. This is a very retrograde development for trade on the island of Ireland and between Ireland and Britain, after 45 years of EEC/EU integration. “The second option, of a ‘customs partnership’ between the EU and UK is simply not an acceptable outcome for the agriculture and food sector, as even under this arrangement, the UK would still be committed to pursuing their own trade policy for imports into the UK,” Healy pointed out. “The potential displacement of Irish food exports from the UK market will in turn destabilise the EU market balance.” Concluding, the president said: “In order to safeguard the future value of the Irish and EU farming and food sector, the EU must negotiate a balanced free trade agreement with the UK.”

russian pc market grows 4.6% in Q2 mports of PCs to Russia grew by 4.6 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of this year, reports Cnews.ru. The desktop PC market jumped by 32 percent, the mono-block PC market tripled, and the notebook market declined. PC imports to the Russian market totaled 1.2 million units in April-June, according to the study from the company IDC. HP led with 20.1 percent of the market, Lenovo followed with 19.7 percent, and Acer took 18.4 percent. The market shares of Asus and Dell totaled 12 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively. Imports of desktop PCs increased by 32.1 percent to

435,000 units. HP led the segment, followed by Lenovo, Acer, iRU and Depo Computers. Imports of monoblock PCs soared by 165.7 percent. Imports of notebooks totaled 767,000 units, down by 6.5 percent. Lenovo led in the segment followed by HP, Acer, Asus and Dell. Meanwhile, The trade turnover between Russia and the European Union (EU) rose by 28.7 percent year-on-year in the Lirst seven months, the Russian Federal Customs Service said in a statement Wednesday. According to the statement, the EU-Russia trade turnover reached 117.8 billion U.S. dollars in this period. –CB Report

germany imports 5 billion eggs from Netherlands

G BERLIN

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ermany has imported 5 billion eggs over the last year from the Netherlands, where Europe’s escalating insecticide-tainted egg scandal originated last week. According to Germany’s Federal Statistical OfLice (Destatis) millions

of eggs containing the insecticide Lipronil made their way to German markets. Most of the tainted eggs were imported from Belgium and the Netherlands. In 2016, Germany produced more than 12 billion eggs, of which 2.2 billion were exported. Meanwhile, to meet its daily demand for eggs Germany imported 7 billion eggs. Nearly 5 billion of Germany’s imported eggs

came from the Netherlands, the country at the center of the ongoing scandal. Germany also imported 225 million eggs from Belgium, another country involved in the egg crisis. Meanwhile, Dutch investigators arrested two suspects Thursday in connection with a probe into the discovery of Lipronil insecticide in European eggs, prosecutors said. “It relates to two managers at the

company that allegedly used the substance (Lipronil) at poultry farms,” spokeswoman Marieke van der Molen said, with Dutch media naming the suspects’ company as Chickfriend. The arrests came after Belgian authorities coordinated raids at eight locations across The Netherlands with the assistance of Europe’s policing and judicial agencies Europol and Eurojust.

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Customs Preventive Larkana seizes 36 Iran made travel bags HYDERABAD: The Anti-Smuggling Organization (ASO) Hyderabad, Customs Preventive Larkana, has confiscated foreign origin non-duty-paid 36 smuggled travel bags during an operation at a check-post of Jacobabad in July. The market value of the said item is Rs274050 involving duties and taxes. Smuggled item was being transported from Iran into Pakistan. Following a strict instruction by Hyderabad Customs Collector Akhlaq Ahmad Khattaq, ASO team conducted various anti-smuggling activities to protect the national exchequer.

Saturday, August 19, 2017

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hyderabad customs preventive seizes 33 smuggled tyres, 277 daries HYDERABAD ASLAM ANJuM QureShI www.customsbulletin.com

he Anti-Smuggling Organization (ASO) Hyderabad, Customs Preventive Sukkur, impounded 33 smuggled tyres and 277 Daries (Thick Bed-Sheets) worth Rs895899 of duties and taxes during an operation in SukkurRohri division during the month of July 2017-18. According to details, an ASO team, following a tip-off received through Collector Akhlaq Ahmad Khattaq, constituted a team under the supervision of Additional Collector Rehmatulah Vistro. The team intercepted a vehicle near railway station Rohri and recovered foreign origin imported tyres and Daries which were being smuggled into Pakistan. The ASO team asked the driver to produce the legal documents regarding the possession of tyres and Daries but he failed to produce anything lawful. The ASO team registered separate cases of smuggling against the accused persons and forwarded the cases to the customs adjudications. The ASO team, comprising In-

spector Makhan Khan, Inspector Abdul Rauf Bhutto, Inspector

joriyal Abbasi, and other staff, participated in the action. After mak-

ing a seizure report, the ASO team deposited the confiscated tyres

and Daries into the state warehouse Sukkur.

Illegal land allotment: NAB summons owais Muzaﬀar KARACHI

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he National Accountability Bureau has summoned Owais Muzaffar for allegedly allotting lands illegally in the Malir River Bed. Muzaffar is the foster brother of former president Asif Ali Zardari and has served as the Sindh Minister for local government besides holding the charge

of provincial government departments of Housing during the last Pakistan People’s Party government. Documents allege the former minister in connivance with his “frontman” Aftab Pathan was involved in “aiding and abetting” of illegal allotments in Malir River Bed by “illegal and corrupt means”. The call-up notice served to Muzaffar states the allotments can prove to be potentially detrimental to the environment and cause loss to the national exchequer. Muzaffar has been asked to record his statement on August

18 before NAB. Meanwhile, The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has announced to continue its operation

in Sindh, ignoring the provincial government’s latest legislation against the Bureau. According to a NAB spokesman, the Bureau is not subservient to any provincial law and thus will continue its operation in Sindh as per the National Accountability Ordinance 1999. He said that besides issuing other directives to stop NAB from operating in the province, the Sindh government on Thursday also sought withdrawal of Sindh Police from provincial NAB ofLices. The spokesman explained that the NAB is operating under a fed-

Published by M S Raza Oﬀ# 42, 3rd Flr Gull Plaza M.A Road Karachi, Printed by Dhoom Printing Building No RY/A, 11/6,11/7, Mashoor Mahal,oﬀ I.I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi

eral statute and thus its authority and jurisdiction could not be curtailed by a provincial law. NAB has though avoided so far challenging the provincial government’s controversial move, it is keenly watching how the judiciary responds to the Sindh opposition’s petition challenging the new provincial law. The provincial law twice passed by the Sindh Assembly last month to repeal the National Accountability Ordinance1999 (NAO) in Sindh became an Act of the provincial assembly on Thursday to end the role of NAB in provincial affairs.