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pAkISTAN’S FIrST INDepTH NewSpAper oN cUSToMS
vol 2 Issue No. 26
weekly
karachi, Tue July 15 - Mon July 21, 2014
regd. No, Mc-1381
Price Rs. 50.00
BooSTINg exporTS
Exports to European markets grew by an additional $700 million because of GSP+ status, says Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir | See pAge 09 | DevISINg New STrATegy
FBR ChairmanTariq Bajwa devises new strategy to achieve the annual revenue target for FY 2014-15 | See pAge 03 | TAkINg AcTIoN ISLAMABAD
MUHAMMAD FAIZAN www.customstoday.com
FBR initiates disciplinary proceedings against more than 200 oďŹƒcers belonging to both Customs and Inland Revenue groups, says Shahid Hussain | See pAge 03 | DevelopINg gwADAr
Gwadar Port Authority Chairman Dostain Khan Jamaldini describes Gwadar Port as a game changer, saying that it is set to turn Pakistan into an economic hub of the region | See pAge 06 |
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he anti-smuggling unit of Rawalpindi Directorate General of Customs Intelligence and Investigation (I & I) raided a warehouse in Fazayia Colony near Islamabad Airport and seized non-customs paid electronic items including airconditions, refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens and LCD televisions worth billion rupees. The consignment was imported under cloak of Afghan transit trade and later smuggled into Pakistan illegally. It is being described as one of the biggest raids carried out by the Rawalpindi Customs authorities in the current year. As per details, the anti-smuggling unit of the Rawalpindi Customs Directorate was tipped off that a large number of electronic appliances worth billions rupees had been smuggled into Pakistan from Afghanistan which had been hidden in the warehouse of a private postal service. Tax amount of Rs3 billion is being estimated to have been evaded through the smuggling of
these electronic appliances. The Customs Anti-smuggling Unit under the command of Deputy Director Shahid Jan raided the warehouse and recovered 800 split AC units, 46 washing machines, 6 LCD screens, refrigerators and microwave ovens. Rawalpindi Director of Customs Intelligence Chaudhry ZulRiqar and Additional Director Muhammad Saleem were monitoring the raid. The smuggled electronic items are said to be property of a trader namely Ghazanfar Gul. Meanwhile, when the police interrogated the arrested workers and asked the trader about the legal status of the seized items, they expressed their complete ignorance about their presence in the warehouse. It is to be noted that stickers of Afghan Transit Trade were glued on the boxes of impounded items. After the raid, the high-ups of Customs Intelligence also visited the warehouse. Meanwhile, Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation-Customs, Rawalpindi has seized non-duty paid
tea, LED TVs, tyres, tubes and foreign cloth from a bus. The bus was coming from Peshawar and the goods conRiscated were worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. An FIR had been registered against three persons two of whom were arrested at the spot. The officials of Anit-smuggling Unit of the directorate came upon the bus coming from Peshawar at Sang Jani Toll Plaza. On proper examination, four 40 inch LED TVs, 27 bags of black tea brought in from Afghanistan weighing about 1836 kg, 41 new and 7 used tyres and tubes of Bridgestone brand and of various sizes and 14 kg foreign cloth were revealed. When asked about the ownership of the goods, the driver claimed it but remained unable to produce any of the required documents which could show confirmation of paid duties/taxes on his possessions thereby establishing their illegal import. Confiscated goods valued at 4.5 million rupees.
800 split AC units, 46 washing machines, 6 LCD screens, refrigerators and microwave ovens recovered
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KARACHI
JULY 15 - JULY 21, 2014
First shipment of 110,000mt of coal berthed at port Qasim
KARACHI: Mega Ocean carrying 55,000 metric tonnes of Metallurgical Coal from Australia berthed at Pakistan Steel Mills Jetty, Port Qasim on Friday. Another ship Mega Lohori, carrying 55,000mt of Metallurgical Coal from Australia has also reached at the outer anchorage of Port Qasim. It is pertinent to mention here that this is the first shipment of 110,000mt of Metallurgical Coal to be received by PSM with the help of Rs. 4.2 billion out of the approved financial restructuring package of Rs18.5 billion from the Government of Pakistan.
FBR 2700-acre land a bone of contention between Customs, IRS he 2700-acre land of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) located at Mauripur area inWest Karachi has become the bone of contention between its two organizations i.e. Pakistan Customs and Inland Revenue Services (IRS) for last several years, it is learnt here. According to the FBR sources, the then Central Excise had leased the land on the name of SaltWorks in 1878 and the land was belonged to SaltWorks and Central Excise Land Customs.The sources further informed CustomsToday that the FBR through a letter has allowed Pakistan Customs to look into the matter, as the land belongs to Collectorate, instead of Commissionerate.To a query, the sources revealed that Inland Revenue Services has no authority, as the land had been leased on the name of Collectorate, instead of Commissionerate, as the Collectorate of Preventive was operational at that time in 1878.“The then Central Excise gave the land to SaltWorks for exploration of salt in the area in 18th century and then the lease of the land renewed by the competent authorities with the passage of time”, sources informed. They further told this scribe that the authorities concerned of Pakistan Customs have written several letters to the authorities of IRS as per the directives of FBR for taking up the matter into consideration, however; the IRS authorities are not taking the matter seriously. Elaborating the issue further, the FBR sources revealed that the lease of the land was expired after the specific time period and the IRS authorities forced the leasers to evacuate the land which was in use of the leasers for last 150 years. The sources confirmed that the matter was still hanging in the lurch, as some of the FBR officers do not want to resolve the issue. —CT Report
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Traders clash with Anti-Smuggling Unit raders of Narankari Bazaar clashed with the Anti-Smuggling Unit of Rawalpindi Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation-FBR and blocked their raid on a godown in the Bazaar. Ganj Mandi Police lodged an FIR against the traders on complaint of Customs officials. According to details, officials of Rawalpindi Customs (I&I) on a tip-off conducted a raid on a godown in Narankari Bazaar to seize foreign smuggled cigarettes. When the team reached their, traders of the Bazaar stopped them forcefully and clashed with them. Traders also staged a protest and blocked the road to stop the raid of the Customs. Leaders of traders interfered and resolved the issue. Customs team failed to recover the cigarettes; however they lodged a report in the Ganj Mandi Police Station against the traders. —CT Report
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Appraisement west, east re-distribute work to ADcs, Acs, Dcs KARACHI
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BR, Establishment Division through an OfRice Order No. 99/2014-ESTT (Law) has redistributed work among the Additional Collectors of Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (West) with immediate effect. According to the details, Dr Iftikhar Ahmad, Additional CollectorI will have responsibility of Group-III (Ch39-49), Group-IV (Ch50-70) including Licensing, HQ-I (Estt/Admin, ConRidential, CHO, Transport Section), HQ-II (Cash Section, Accounts, Policy & Coordination, Statistical, SR Cell, Budget, Sanction, Accounts Authority), CPF, Treasury, Procurement, CRA, PRAL, Transit Trade legacy issues, any other job not elsewhere speciRied in this order. Fayyaz Rasool Maken, ADC-II will have responsibility of Group-II (Ch28-38), Group-VII (Ch 86-89) including Public/Private Bonds and Warehousing, Import Section, Transshipment, SRO-492 and Temporary Imports, FTO, Law Branch, Tribunal, Customs Laboratory, IT Division, Administrative supervision of Assessment Hall. Syed Naeem Akhtar, ADC-III will have responsibility of Group (Ch 0127) and Group-VI (Ch 84-85) including MIS-WeBOC, Adjudication-ADC Level, Pre-Audit, Supervision of WeBOC role for printing cheques. Muhammad Nayyar ShaRiq, ADCIV will have responsibility of Examination & Auctions at West Wharf, BOML, AICT, KICT, MCD & Coordination with KPT & Terminal Operators, Valuation Ruling Monitoring & Coordination, Internal Audit, Inter Port Movement, R&D, (AIB & Post Clearance VeriRication Cell), FTA Cell, MIS (One Customs). Muhammad Raza, ADC-V will have responsibility of Group-V (Ch71-83), Group- VIII (Ch90-99) including Internal Stock Taking Auction of unserviceable government purchased stocks, BG Cell, Recovery Cell, ADRC. Meanwhile, the competent authority of Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (West)
through an OfRice Order No 100/2014-Esst (AW) has assigned different tasks to assistant collectors and deputy collectors of MCC-Appraisement (West). According to the details, Nausheen Riaz Khan has assigned the job of R&D, AIB and Post Release VeriRication (PRV) Cell, FTA Cell, ADRC, MIS-I and IT Division. Muhammad Akbar Jan, Assistant Collector has been assigned the responsibilities including HQ-I (Esst/Admin, ConRidential, CHO, Transport Section and Procurement), plus HQ-II (Cash Section, Accounts, Policy & Coordination, Statistical, SR Cell & Budget Sanction
DC Level, Adjudication of Afghan transit legacy cases. Dr Noman Khan, Deputy Collector has been assigned the responsibilities of Group-V (Ch71-83), MIS-II, Adjudication of Afghan Transit Trade legacy cases. Yousuf Ali Khan Magsi, Deputy Collector has been assigned the works of Group-VI (Ch84-85), MIS, One Customs, PRAL, Pre-audit. Arsalan Majeed Rana, Assistant Collector has been assigned the works of Group-VII (Ch86-89), bonded warehouse (public/private). Sadia Sadaf, Deputy Collector has been assigned the task of Group-VIII (Ch90-99), Import Section, SRO 492,
Accounts Authority), CPF, Treasury and Procurement). Mahwish Shah, Assistant Collector has been assigned the responsibly of Group (Ch01-27) Recovery Cell and Nawabzadi Aliya Dilawar Khanji, Deputy Collector has been assigned the responsibilities of Group-II (Ch28-38), Customs Laboratory and Adjudication of Afghan Transit legacy cases. Naveed Iqbal, Deputy Collector has been assigned the responsibilities of Group-III (Ch39-49), Licensing, WeBOC, Role for Printing Cheques, Adjudication of Afghan Transit Trade legacy cases. Ghulam Nabi Kamboh, Deputy Collector has been assigned the responsibilities of Group-IV (Ch50-70), Bank Guarantee Cell, Adjudication-
Temporary Imports, Transshipment. Muhammad Faisal Khan, Deputy Collector has been assigned the task of KICT/examination, Interport movement and Adjudication of Afghan Transit Trade legacy cases. Shah Faisal Saho, Deputy Collector has been assigned the job of KICT/Examination and auction, inter-port movement. Imran Razzak, Deputy Collector has been assigned the job of West Wharf (Examination/Auction), MCD, Coordination with KPT and terminal operators, Inter-audit. Usman Tariq, Assistant Collector has been assigned the task of KICT/ Examination, Auction, CRA and BOML (Examination & Auction). Marium Mehndi Raja, Assistant
Collector has been assigned the task of KICT Examination. RaRiullah Bangash, Assistant Collector has been assigned the jobs of Law Branch, FTO Tribunal and Adjudication of AC Level. Furthermore, the principal appraisers of MCC-Appraisement (West) have been assigned various tasks through an OfRice Order No. 101/2014-Esst (AW). According to the details, Ahmed Nawaz (PA) has been assigned the job of Group-I (Ch01-27), CRA Audit; Shaheen Farooq has been assigned the job of Group-III (Ch3949); Ali Ahmed Talpur has been assigned the job of Group-IV (Ch5070); Islam Jan Marwat has been assigned the job of Group-V (Ch71-83), Recovery Cell; Abdullah Domki has been assigned the job of Group-V (Ch71-83); Abdul Quyyum has been assigned the job of Group-VI (Ch8485), Public/Private Bond & Warehousing; Asad Masood has been assigned the task of Group-VI (Ch84-85); Jam Arbab Ali has assigned the job of Group-VIII (Ch9096); Saleem Yousuf has been assigned the job of AICT; Muhammad Saleh Kalhoro has been assigned the job of West Wharf and Javed Ahsan has assigned the job of BG Cell, SRO492 and Transshipment. Meanwhile, Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (East) has redistributed work of six additional collectors with immediate effect. Additional Collector-I Wajid Ali has been allocated work in Establishment, Group-I/II/VI/VII, R&D, Audit and PCT Committee. Additional Collector-II Muhammad Tahir has been assigned in Examination-PICT and Auction. Additional Collector-III Jameel Ahmad Baloch will have responsibilities in Examination, Pak-Shaheen, NLC and East Wharf. Additional Collector-IV Shoukat Ali has been delegated work in Group-V, Transit & Transshipment, DTRE, MCD, Warehousing & Adjudication. Additional Collector-V Mahmoodul-Hassan has been assigned in One Customs, PRV, Securities, Recovery, User ID, FTA Cell and Facilitation. Additional Collector-VI Dr Shahab Imam has been assigned in Group-III, IV, Law, FTO, Refund and Inter Port Movement.
SHCorderstoreleasefabricconsignmentson$4.50perkgdutypayment KARACHI
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he Sindh High Court (SHC) in its verdict, permitted importers of fabric to cleared their consignments after paying duty at US$4.50per Kg. The Honourable Court has given its verdict against the three Constitutional Petitions filed, including (CP) No. D-3409/2014 filed by the proprietor of M/s Ehsan Sons. The other two CPs
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were filed by M/s Vital Enterprises and M/s Amrone Enterprises respectively. In the verdict, the Sindh High Court (SHC) has disposed of the petitions and ordered the release of consignments which have already been arrived at port on paying duty at US$4.50per Kilogram. In its brief order, SHC also stated that once consignments have been released after paying duty, could never be held up on account of the issuance or impending issuance of any show cause notice by authorities. As per details, the importers of fabric moved to Sindh High Court
consignments released after paying duty could never be held up by authorities
(SHC) in order to release their consignments held by Pakistan Customs Authorities on contravention charges. It is said that the Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) of Appraisement West has already prepared contravention reports against 54 consignments of textile fabric. In response the importers submitted the CP in SHC against Federation of Pakistan through Secretary, Revenue division of Ministry of Finance, Collector of Customs MCC of Appraisement-West, Deputy Collector Customs and MCC of Appraisement -West in May.
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ISLAMABAD 03
JULY 15 - JULY 21, 2014
Dar, Misbah meeting ends cricketers’ tax issue
ISLAMABAD: After finding themselves in hot waters for their tax filings, the members of Pakistan cricket team have requested the finance minister to direct the FBR to collect outstanding taxes of cricketers at a flat rate of 10 per cent. National team captain Misbahul Haq along with Test cricketer Azhar Ali met with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar at the Finance Ministry here. Misbah presented the case of clearing pending tax returns of cricketers for the past four years at the flat rate of 10pc. The meeting was also attended by FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa.
FBr chairman devises new strategy for achieving revenue target — Exclusive Customs Today photo
Allegations:FBR beginsproceedings against210babus
FBr Member Admin Shahid Hussain BR has initiated disciplinary proceedings against more 200 officers belong to both the Customs and Inland Revenue groups on charges of flouting rules and regulations and corruption allegations. The step is part of the well thought out plan to transform the FBR into an ideal and vibrant institution, said FBR Member (Admin) Shahid Hussain Jatoi. According to details, Shahid Hussain Jatoi has issued directives, asking the FBR and its field formations officers to observe officials rules and regulations strictly. He also warned against inefficiency, slackness and shirking from official responsibilities, saying that zero tolerance would be showed to violators.The FBR Member Admin pointed out that disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against more than 200 officers belong to Customs and Inland Revenue groups, following a host of complaints against the officers. Meanwhile, sources in FBR privy to the development informed that if the officers managed to survive the inquiries, the reports would be, though, incorporated into their ACR, adding that the officers were set to bear the brunt of the disciplinary proceedings either way as would badly affect their promotion in future. The officers had started trying their influence to avoid the inquiries. —CT Report
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FBR striving to increase return filers, tax net remains stagnant ISLAMABAD
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BR Chairman Tariq Bajwa devised new strategy to achieve the annual revenue target for FY 2014-15. The FBR Chairman has issued strict instructions to all Rield ofRicers to accomplish the task. He warned the Rield formation ofRicers that only those ofRicers will remain in FBR who show good performance. As per new strategy, all Rield formation ofRicers have been given monthly targets and warned to achieve targets in the same month otherwise in the next month they will receive a warning. Subsequently, if one ofRicer is failed to achieve his target for two consecutive months, he will be transferred/posted to a least important position. As per directions from FBR Chairman, Members Inland Revenue Operations restricted all Rield formation ofRicers to go on leave without any urgency. Moreover, ofRicers in FBR instigated revenue collection in a way; they used to do in month of June, to achieve the annual target. In contrast to popular tradition of FBR, this year no ofRicer went on long leave after June so far. The FBR Chairman himself has been visiting his ofRice daily. It is also observed that other team members of Chairman including Member Inland Revenue Policy Shahid Asad, Member Revenue Operation Muhammad Ashraf, Mem-
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
FBr chairman Tariq Bajwa
As per new strategy, all field formation officers have been given monthly targets ber Admin Shahid Hussain Jatoi, and Member Customs Nisar Muhammad worked late night in their ofRices to achieve the revenue target for FY 2-14-15. Meanwhile, FBR has achieved the revenue target for Riscal year that has recently ended. However, there hasn’t been any tangible breakthrough regarding the addition of taxable persons and entities into the tax ambit.
Attempts are being made to show increase in Riling of tax returns by government ofRicials on a larger scale in order to obtain IMF’s contentment. But in fact none of the big Rish have yet been caught. To fulRil IMF’s condition of enhancing the tax net, details of assets from government ofRicials have been collected by FBR’s Large Taxpayers Units after pressurising them while their taxes are already
deducted from their salaries. Though otherwise they had never submitted their assets’ details during their jobs until now, these include teachers and doctors in government service also. During the campaign of enhancing the tax net, FBR collected assets’ details from ofRicials of federal secretariats, doctors from all three major federal hospitals including PIMS, CDA and Polyclinic, and teachers from federal schools and colleges. The number of these government servants reaches thousands. Interestingly there have been government servants who are forced to Rile returns while they are not even in the tax loop due to their low salaries. Similarly, small businessmen like shopkeepers and traders are forced to Rile returns which will only increase the number of return Rilers while there will be no ampliRication in the tax net. Until now, no steps have been taken to include the individuals into the tax net who own millions of rupees and luxurious cars. FBR not only possesses lists of these individuals but also has access to their bank accounts. After wasting millions of rupees on publicising and campaigning against such individuals, when the time came to get them lined up, the government suddenly became silent due to political reasons. FBR high ofRicials who had full preparation to act against such individuals had to face acute disappointment. High ofRicials of FBR insist that it is the government alone which needs to give the green signal to let them act accordingly.
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04 KARACHI
JULY 15 - JULY 21, 2014
r&D Section of Mcc-Appraisement (east) recovers rs26.6m in June
KARACHI: The Research and Development (R&D) Section of the Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (East) while following the special directives of the Collector MCC-Appraisement (East) Najeeb-ur-Rehman Abbasi has recovered an amount of Rs26,612,517 in the month of June, 2014 from importers who are involved in violation of PCT/classification, valuation ruling, mis-declaration of value and wrong use of SROs.
he Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) of Exports has not yet taken any action against the recommendations forwarded by the Input-Output Co-efficient Organization (IOCO), last month regarding scrutinizing the value addition and implementing DutyTaxes Remission on Exports (DTRE) in M/s LuckyTextile case, it is learnt here. The FBR sources informed Customs Today that the IOCO has forwarded recommendations to MCC-Exports in which it suggested to scrutinize the value addition of M/s LuckyTextile since the year 2011 and also re-examine the DTRE tabulation of M/s LuckyTextile regarding its imports and exports. The sources further informed that the MCC-Exports has not yet taken any action in this regard and even did not reply the IOCO recommendations. When contacted, one of the senior officers in MCC-Exports Collectorate told this scribe that it was rare that the value addition was not taken place in export of any consignments, however; it was not possible to ignore the value addition in export of consignments for last three years. Replying to a question, the Pakistan Customs officer said that he didn’t know further details in the case of M/s LuckyTextile. —CT Report
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Violation of SRO560(I): Customs recovers Rs5m from cellular company akistan Customs-FBR has recovered an amount of Rs 5million from a Chinese cellular company, which was involved in violating the SRO560 (I) of the SalesTax Ordinance, 1990. According to the details, the Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) of Appraisement-East has detected a case of tax evasion in which a Chinese cell phone company was found involved in violating the SRO 560(I) of the SalesTax Ordinance, 1990 on import of telecommunication accessories.The MCC-Appraisement (East) while following the case has detected three Goods Declaration (GDs) i.e. KEAPHC-8755-231213, KEAP-HC-8758-231213 and KEAP-HC-8761-231213 in which the mobile company found involved in tax evasion of Rs5million by taking undue advantage of in-admissible SRO 560(I) of the SalesTax Ordinance 1990. Subsequently, the MCCAppraisement (East) through a letter asked the mobile company to deposit differential amount of duty/taxes in the national kitty. Chinese mobile company deposited the differential amount of Rs5million in share of duty/tax in the national exchequer. It is pertinent to mention here that the said Chinese cellular company has already taken stayorder from SHC in case of depositing sales tax on the import of cellular phones into country. —CT Report
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KARACHI
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he Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) of Appraisement (West) while following the directives of Chief Collector-Appraisement (South) Nasir Masroor Ahmed has made 54 Contravention Reports (CRs) in case of mis-declaration reported in the import of fabric. The Collector, MCC-Appraisement (West) Muhammad Saleem and Additional Collector, ADC-I Dr Ifthikar Ahmed conRirmed Customs Today that the Collectorate has sent 54 Contravention Reports to the Collectorate of Customs Adjudication for further proceedings. It may be mentioned here that the Directorate General of Customs Intelligence and Investigation-FBR and MCC-Appraisement (West) had seized around 200 consignments of textile fabric in the alleged reason that the viscose blended fabric was being imported in the garb of cotton blended in the month of May, 2014. Subsequently, the samples of the imported fabric were sent to the Customs Laboratory for determining the authenticity of the imported fabric textile. In the month of June, the Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation-FBR had lodged seven FIRs against the importers found in-
collector Appraisement Muhammad Saleem
54 Contravention Reports made in case of mis-declaration reported in the import of fabric volved in tax evasion worth millions of rupees in import of viscose blended fabric in the garb of cotton blended fabric. On the other hand, the MCC-Appraisement (West) had sent around 100 samples of the textile fabric for determining the actual ratio in the import of the consignments. Later on, the lab reports revealed that 54 consignments of fabric textile
imported through mis-declaration and viscose blended fabric was being imported in the garb of cotton blended fabric. The MCC-Appraisement (West) has sent Contravention Reports to the Customs Collectorate of Adjudication, last week for further proceedings. The Customs Collectorate of Adjudication will issue show-cause notices to the importers in few days.
violation of Sro670
AIB to investigate 3 more importers he Appraising Intelligence Branch (AIB) of Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) of Appraisement (West) has decided to extend the ambit of investigation in recently lodged FIR against M/s Reliable Enterprises, it is learnt here. The AIB sources informed Customs Today that the authorities concerned with the approval of Collector, MCCAppraisement (West) Muhammad Saleem has started investigation against three other importers, who were also involved in violation of SRO670(I)/2007 of the Sales Tax Ordinance, 1990. The sources further said that the importers to be investigated by AIB of MCC-Appraisement (West) included M/s Vital Trade International, M/s Shahab Enterprises and M/s Winsome Enterprises. “The Inland Revenue Services (IRS)-FBR is also conducting investigation against above mentioned importers in case of violation of SRO 670(I)/2007”, they added. The sources further informed this scribe that the AIB while following the directives of Collector, MCCAppraisement was working on all legal aspects related to the case. It may be mentioned here that the violation of SRO 670(I)/2007 of the Sales Tax Ordinance, 1990 falls into the jurisdiction of Inland Revenue Services instead of Pakistan Customs. However; the sources informed Customs Today that Pakistan Customs has the authority to investigate such cases due to a clause of the SRO. —CT Report
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Member customs, chief collector urged to take action against ‘corrupt’officials KARACHI
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he Regional OfRicer (RO) Jacobabad Muhammad Hafeez Tunio through a letter informed Member Customs-FBR Nisar Muhammad Ali Khan and Chief Collector Enforcement-South Muhammad Nazim Saleem about the alleged involvement of Customs ofRicials in mal-practicing and corruption. As per details, the RO Jacobabad Muhammad Hafeez in his letter informs the high authorities of Pakistan Customs including Member Customs-FBR and Chief Collector Enforcement-South about the smuggling of contraband items under ofRicial canopy, resulting in Rs 10 million loss daily. Furthermore, in the letter, he accused In-charge Jacoba-
chief collector Appraisement Nasir Masroor
— Exclusive Customs Today photos
MCC-Exports yet to take action on IOCO recommendations
customs Adjudication to issue show-cause notices to fabric importers — Exclusive Customs Today photo
Implementing DTre
Member customs Nisar Muhammad
bad post Aziz Ahmed Katpar, clerk Fakhar-ud-din, soldier Shabbir Ahmed Bhutto and Daani Bux of corruption and smuggling of contraband items including Iranian petrol, gutkha and pan-parang resulting Rs10million loss daily to national exchequer. It was further revealed in the letter that a militia of around 10 to 12 persons, wearing uniforms was also working at the Jacobabad check-post under full support of its In-charge Aziz Ahmed Katpar. “The militia used to stop transporters at Jacobabad check-post and asked them to clear their consignments through bribe,” letter stated. The RO insisted in the letter that the Member Customs-FBR and Chief Collector Enforcement-South should take stern action against the Customs ofRicials involved in mal-practicing and corruption, which tarnished the image of organization.
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NATIONAL 05
JULY 15 - JULY 21, 2014
ANF arrests smugglers, huge quantity of drugs recovered
LAHORE: Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) Lahore has recovered large quantity of charas, heroin and opium arresting drug smugglers while seizing four vehicles from their possession. ANF arrested a resident of Narowal at Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore and recovered 2 kg heroin concealed in her hand bag. She was to travel to Akra, Ghana via Dubai by a flight. ANF seized a consignment at Sky Net Courier and recovered 750 grams of heroin concealed in Dental Surgery Equipment.
customs central region misses target by 11pc in Fy 2013-14 Collection of duty declines manifolds at MCC Multan, Faisalabad due to increase in consumption of local oil LAHORE
M HAyAT
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Directorate of Reforms to install AIR module inWeBOC he Directorate of Reforms and Automation (R&A) has started its working on“Air Information Report” (AIR) module inWeBOC, computerized system, it is learnt here. The FBR sources informed Customs Today that the module AIR would be implemented at all airports and air freight units across the country by the month of August, 2014. They further stated that the AIR module has nine components related to air-shipment, Import General Manifest (IGM), cargo arrival, cargo departure, terminals and others, which would be elaborated in WeBOC, computerized system. “The Directorate of Reforms and Automation has almost completed 80 percent of upgradation work in AIR module and remaining 20 percent would be completed during the current month of July, 2014”, the sources claimed.The sources further revealed that the upgradation of AIR module would ensure facilitation to the importers and exporters in clearing their consignments by filing GDs onWeBOC. —CT Report
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customsseizes heroinfromparcel akistan Customs Drug Enforcement Cell (DEC), Karachi Airport Unit recovered and seized 800 grams heroin powder from a courier parcel at Karachi Airport. Customs DEC staff during clearance of outgoing international courier mail intercepted a Courier parcel booked for Lancashire UK from Karachi. Upon examination the parcel was found to contain ten cyclists’jackets. Examination of these jackets resulted in the recovery of 800 grams fine quality heroin powder packed in 110 small polythene packets inside these jackets. A prosecution case under Control of Narcotics Substances Act, 1997 has been registered and efforts are being made to apprehend the sender of the parcel. —CT Report
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— Exclusive Customs Today photo
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our Model Customs Collectorates (MCCs) of central region led by Chief Collector Rozi Khan Burki collected a total of Rs34,602 million in the head of customs duty during financial year 2013-14, missing target of Rs39,042 million by 11 percent and posting a growth of six percent as compared to the last financial year 2012-13. According to details, the MCC Lahore appraisement collected total customs duty of Rs16,444 million, missing the target of Rs18,289 million by 10 for the FY 2013-14. However, the collectorate attained a growth of 8 percent as compared to the total collection of Rs15,217 million during the last FY 2012-13. Similarly, the MCC Lahore Preventive collected Rs5,754, showing a growth of 27 percent against Rs4,544 million in the last fY 201213, missing the target of Rs5, 648 million by 2 percent. Collectorate of Multan collected Rs10.706 million against the target of Rs12,334 million, missing the target by 13 percent and posting a growth of 3 percent against the previous year’s collection of Rs10,364. In the same way, MMC Faisalabad collected Rs1,697 million, missing target of Rs2,769 million by 39 percent, exhibiting decline of 34 percent against the collection of Rs2,545 during the last FY 2012-13. Top Customs ofRicials explaining the reason of hefty decline in collection of customs duty at MCC Multan and MCC Faisalabad, said that imported oil clearance at these two collectorates has decreased mani-
folds, resulting in reduction in customs duty collection. They said that the reduction in clearance and import of oil has reduced due to the sizable increase in consumption of local oil. Talking about the failure to meet the overall target, they said that in fact the region had succeeded in achieving the target as the board would not revised collectorates’s targets in similar fashion to that of the board itself. The board target was revised from Rs2,475 billion against the revised target of Rs2,275 billion while the collectorates chased the same target of Rs39,042 million, they added.
chief collector rozi khan Burki
FIRlodgedforRs5mduty evasion,Appraiserdemoted irectorate of Customs Intelligence Multan lodged an FIR against a company owner and an accountant for Rs 5 million tax evasion and demoted a customs appraiser on wrong assessment. Additional Collector Customs Intelligence Multan Nisar Ahmad said that a Multan-based food factory had imported carbon rolls from Austria but presented invoices and other documents showing a less amount. On suspicion, customs intelligence officials
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checked the record and according to their initial assessment, Rs 5 million worth of duty theft was detected. The officials lodged an FIR against company owner Chaudhry Zulfiqar and accountant Waseem. Customs intelligence has also formed teams who are raiding to arrest the accused. Meanwhile, Customs Collector Multan Sarfraz Waraich demoted customs appraiser Saleem Akhtar on wrong assessment of duty and ordered an inquiry against him. —CT Report
MultanCustomsseizesvehicles,tyres,liquorworthRs16.51m MULTAN
IMrAN AlI kHAN
www.customstoday.com ustoms officials in Multan seized goods worth Rs 16.51 million in their antismuggling efforts in June 2014. According to sources, the seized items include petroleum products, tyres, cigarettes, motor vehicles and liquor. Vehicles including Land Cruisers, Pajeros and hybrid motors were seized in large number for nonpayment of customs duty. Multan Customs registered more than 200 cases of anti-smuggling during the fiscal year
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2013-2014. It is to be noted that the seizure cases of anti-smuggling were increasing gradually due to strict measures taken by customs intelligence and related departments. Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Multan collected revenue of Rs169.47 m through auction, fines and taxes from detained goods by anti-smuggling organization (ASO). Furthermore, the Customs collectorate initiated criminal and adjudication proceedings by issuing show-cause notices to persons and organizations involved in tax evasion. A source also told Customs Today that Customs Department imposed penalty on
different culprits who smuggled goods from across the border without paying duty but were selling these goods in different areas of Pakistan. The official source confirmed that Customs have no objection on duty-free import of goods as this is increasing their revenues every day. Due to anti-smuggling operation, FBR’s revenue is also increased through tax collection. It is point to be noted that most of the smuggled goods confiscated by Customs Department were smuggled through Pak-Iran border. As compared to FY 2012-13, more than 20 percent increase in seizure cases this year is a clear proof of better performance by customs officials.
Multan ASo seizes 181 vehicles ultan Customs Anti-Smuggling organization seized 181 Motor vehicles during the fiscal year 2013-14. As per details, Anti-Smuggling Organization seized 181 motor vehicles during different raids and monitoring of provincial border.The success of Antismuggling Organization (ASO) in seizing this amount of vehicles shows extraordinary performance of ASO’s officials. —CT Report
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— Exclusive Customs Today photo
06
SPECIALREPORT
www.customstoday.com JULY 15 - JULY 21, 2014
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SPECIALREPORT 07
JULY 15 - JULY 21, 2014
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GWADAR
SAJID BAlocH
www.customstoday.com wadar Port Authority Chairman Dostain Khan Jamaldini described Gwadar Port as a game changer, saying that it is set to turn Pakistan into an economic hub of the region. He said that the sea front area of partially-completed Gwadar port is more than 50 kilometres. So far only 1.4 percent of the Gwadar project could be completed mainly due to connectivity issues. The N-85 highway (connecting M-8 with Panjgur) is expected to be functional in December 2015 while M8 in April 2015 which will connect the port with land. This was the crux of exclusive talks of Dostain Khan Jamaldini (DKJ) with Customs Today (CT) during an interview here. Customs Today: Why Gwadar port could not be made functional despite a lapse of seven years? Chairman: “There are hundreds of ports around the world; Ports are not minor projects rather they
are mega infrastructures, so we should Rirst need to learn how it all works. First ports are completed and then its start operation. As a matter of fact, port is a point of entry and exit, so until there is no proper system for that purpose, the port could not be made functional. Gwadar port is a mega project of our history as on the one hand, it is 98.6 percent incomplete, yet it stands out in world's high level sea ports. Unfortunately, our policy-maker do not get the essence of maritime economics; we think that by installing Cranes, building terminals and infrastructures will make port functional but it is not that easy. When I was working as Chief Planning and Development, we used to hear that the reason behind the Gwadar port non-functionality is connectivity problem with land route. But later when I took charge as Chairman, I examined the world's great ports and came to know that the connectivity which Gwadar has was not blessed to even Singapore and Dubai ports. In annual report it was mentioned that master plan of Gwadar is among the one of World's great port plans�. Gwadar port is blessed with 12.5 metre Natural Depth, good for Mother ships. Gwadar is not only good for transit but also for transhipment. Gwadar has never been disconnected via sea. If we talk about free zone, people of Gwadar know better which area is good, they know the sea, and they catch Rishes there. The free zone served many functions as unpacking, Processing and reassembling. We can see many examples in the world where countries developed their economy from their ports. National Highway Authority accepted the challenging time frame by Government for the timed functionality of Port. Frontier work organization is also working day and night and N85 will complete in December 2014 and M8 in April 2015 which will solve land connectivity problems. Customs Today: Baloch Nationalist Parties have shown concerns over rapid foreign habitant in Gwadar, what do you think are potential threats and beneRits to people of Balochistan from Gwadar Port? Chairman: My opinion on this question is similar as that of Baluchistan and rest of the country that when you come with some development and there is some communication gap with the people and you it will not work in anyway. When we start some mega Project it comes with displacement, distraction and Development, Rirst we have to displace people for development then it is very important to work on communication, to tell people that this development is for their beneRit otherwise they try to made that development impossible but if you do that development will be that easy. Customs Today: Ex-Chairman Gwadar Port mentioned presence of some lobby which trying to delay Gawadar port operations, now as a Chairman Do you feel there is any such thing exist? Chairman: There are many conspiracies theories about the functionality of Gawadar port. So behind every such theory there are some truths and some propaganda. Being incumbent of Governmental position limits my views on this point. Gwadar is not functional because of connectivity is also partially true. So, yes I feel a presence of lobby which is trying to hinder development of Gawadar.
Profile
Dostain Khan Jamaldini was born in Kali Jamaldini of District Nushki and received his early education in Nushki and Karachi. Later, he graduated in Political Science from a foreign university. He started his career in 1990 and served as Secretary Finance, Secretary Energy, Secretary Religious Affairs, Joint Chief of Economics, Chief Planning and Development and Registrar of Balochistan IT & Management Sciences. He has been Chairman Gwadar Port Authority since 2013 todate.
Gwadar port is blessed with 12.5 metre Natural Depth, good for Mother ships. Gwadar is not only good for transit but also for transhipment
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08 EDITORIAL
JULY 15 - JULY 21, 2014
Founder & Chairman Zulfiqar Ali Editor rahil yasin editor@customstoday.com.pk For advertising & subscription marketing@customstoday.com.pk +92-322-3370002 www.customstoday.com Phones: 042-35781643-4, Fax: 042-35781645 Address: 627, Siddiq Trade Centre, Gulberg, Lahore
eDITorIAl
Another ambitious target
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n a bid to achieve highly challenging tax collection target of Rs 2810 billion for the current fiscal year, the FBR has made key transfer/postings of grade 20 and 21 in Inland Revenue Service (IRS) in recent days to establish such a team which can deliver on account of collecting desired revenue target. In the second phase, more transfer/postings would be done in coming weeks. For instance, the slot of Chief Commissioner RTO Bahawalpur is falling vacant and it will be fulfilled in coming days. More changes are on the cards especially among the officers of grade 20 of IRS. At the very outset of the current fiscal year, this is good timing for the FBR putting in place a dedicated and hard working team as they are required to deliver to achieve monthly growth of 25 percent in order to achieve the desired goal in terms of netting a target of Rs 2810 billion. Against the revised tax collection target for fiscal year ended on June 30, 2014, the FBR will have to collect additional Rs 544 billion in ongoing fiscal year in order to stretch the collection up to Rs 2810 billion in 2014-15. The FBR has so far made changes in Karachi and Lahore and some more changes will be made in coming couple of weeks especially at RTO level. There are total 22 RTOs and LTUs (Large Taxpayer Units) in all over the country under IRS. The tax target will be distributed on monthly, quarterly and annually basis among all RTOs and LTUs and the top notches in the FBR are going to analyze the performance of their subordinates on monthly basis at the start of the year but after passing half period the evaluation of performance started on daily basis. There is need of coordinated efforts on two fronts to achieve the desired goals. There is need to increase tax compliance by broadening of tax base. So far the FBR has sent out notices to non filers but it has remained unable to achieve the desired results so the tax machinery will have to change its course to broaden the tax base. In the budget, the FBR has taken steps to discourage non compliant individuals and companies by increasing their cost of doing business. On other hand, the FBR will have to ensure timely and fully collection of withholding taxes as there are areas where tax is deducted from taxpayers by withholding agents but they never bothered to deposit into the national kitty. The FBR will have to focus on disposing off pendency of cases lying in superior courts. There is need to evolve a mechanism where tax disputes are resolved on priority basis in order to improve business climate and removing irritants in the way of boosting investments.
Abolishing tax exemptions in 2 years ISLAMABAD
SM HAIDer
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nder the IMF’s bailout package, the government has implemented the Rirst phase in the budget 2014-15 to abolish certain numbers of tax exemptions, which will be completed over next two years. In the Rirst stage, Pakistani government included 0.35 percent of GDP in SROs for elimination in the FY2014–15 budget, with another 0.3 percent of GDP slated for elimination in FY2015–16 and 0.35 percent of GDP in FY2016–17. According to the IMF, by 2015, the remaining SROs will be incorporated into the tax law. These include customs SROs amounting to about 0.3percent of GDP, which are linked to free trade agreements, income tax SROs related to international treaties amounting about 0.3 percent of GDP, and other SROs amounting about 0.4 percent of GDP that are consid-
ered by the authorities too sensitive to be eliminated. These remaining concessions include sensitive items like fuels, and concessions linked to bilateral/multi-lateral treaties, sovereign guarantees, and constitutional positions, etc. The authority to issue new SROs which grant concessions or exemptions will also be eliminated by 2015, and the authorities renewed their commitment to in the interim refrain from issuing any new ones. In parallel to the efforts to reduce tax expenditures, the IMF says, tax administration efforts are key to moving toward a fairer and equitable tax system. Key developments include: Expanding income tax compliance. The authorities have issued more than 80,000 income tax notices to individuals with large apparent assets or income who have not Riled tax returns, and have followed with second notices as envisaged under the program. The effort in delivering these notices
seems to be starting to bear fruits. So far more than 8,000 individuals have Riled their taxes as a result of this scheme. Moreover, the authorities are strengthening the database of potential taxpayers by incorporating additional sources of information—like urban property transactions and vehicle procurement. The authorities issued a tax directory of parliamentarians in February, and of all taxpayers at end-April. They also issued notices to all 45 parliamentarians that have not paid taxes. These efforts will be further reinforced by increasing the number of tax audits to 5 percent—up from 2.2 percent. For improving the compliance in other taxes, the FBR is enhancing the sales tax base by pursuing electronic volume tracking of production, undertaking Rield surveys, implementing a computerized risk-based evaluation of sales taxes to highlight discrepancies of sales tax invoices; and pursuing e-
registration to prevent spurious registration. With respect to customs, the authorities have revised valuation rulings, and are implementing electronic data interchange connectivity with Afghanistan. For strengthening the FBR, the Board has set up an Integrity and Performance Unit to encourage high achievers and prosecution of corruption. In addition, they set up a Fiscal Management Cell to handle intelligence and investigation of non-taxpayers. The Ministry of Finance and the Financial Management Unit (FMU) are working with the FBR to include serious tax crimes in the AMLA 2010. The authorities plan to submit amendments to the AMLA to Parliament by end-September 2014 under structural benchmark criteria of the IMF program. In addition, the FMU should provide proper guidance to assist Rinancial institutions and the FBR to detect abuse of the investment incentive scheme.
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NATIONAL 09
JULY 15 - JULY 21, 2014
gwadar customs collects rs14.36m in Fy 2013-14
GWADAR: Customs Collectorate Gwadar collected total customs duty of Rs 14.36 million during the financial year 2013-14, official data disclosed. Gwadar customs collected Rs 505,640 during July and Rs2.21m in August 2013 through auction of seized Iranian petrol and diesel. Similarly, Gwadar Customs collected Rs1.01m in September, Rs 2.08m in October, Rs1.50m in November and Rs 3.02 m in December 2013. Customs collected Rs 1.13m in January 2014, Rs 1.11m in February, Rs 1.59 m in March, Rs 0.26 in April, Rs 1.41m in May and Rs 1.08 in June 2014.
gSp+ boost exports to eU by $700m, says Dastgir
collector Appraisement Zahid khokhar he Model Collectorate of Customs (MCC) Appraisement Lahore exceeded monthly revenue recovery of June 2014 by 8 percent, collecting Rs 2474.82 million against Rs 2292 million target. As per details, MCC collected additional revenue of Rs182.82 million during June, which is 10 percent more than last year. Moreover, FBR Chairman directed all Additional Collectors, Deputy Collectors and Assistant Collectors to personally monitor the performance of their subordinates and to facilitate importers and exporters under “One Window Operation”. The Customs Collector Muhammad Zahid Khokhar, on instructions from FBR Chairman, has set up a special complaint counter at Mughal Pura Dry port under his supervision. He assured to redress the genuine grievances of the importers and exporters without delay. On the other hand, MCC also collected additional revenue of 8 percent during FY 201314 compared to the last FY 2012-13. It collected Rs 16,444 million during FY 2013-14 against Rs 15,217 million of FY 2012-13. —CT Report
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wrITe To US yoUr grIevANceS: Through cUSToMS ToDAy platform Help DeSk, now you have chance to DIrecTly write your problems to top govt. functionaries. If you have any grievances, queries, questions or suggestions, you can write in this section as it provides easiest access to you to approach Customs and Revenue authorities. wHo can write in this section? Importers & Exporters, Customs Agents, Chambers of Commerce, Trade Associations and Customs Officers To wHoM you can write? Honourable PM, Minister/Secretary for Finance & Revenue, Minister/Secretary for Ports and Shipping, FBR Chairman, Member Customs and Chairperson Senate/National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance & Revenue. Send your letters at: letters@customstoday.com.pk
ISLAMABAD
cUSToMS ToDAy reporT www.customstoday.com
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xports to European markets during the Rirst 11 months grew by an additional $700 million because of GSP+ status, said Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir. “The major share in this growth was grabbed by the textile and clothing sector,” he said while talking to media persons here. Asked why the growth in exports to the European Union (EU) does not reRlect in the overall export numbers for the last two months, the minister said this was due to the dip in exports of nontextile products in the wake of the rupee’s appreciation against the US dollar. Dastgir said the government approved incentives for textile and non-textile value added sectors. “This will certainly boost exports, especially to the EU market.” Asked whether there is any mechanism to minimise the misuse of export subsidies, the minister said it would be a difRicult job to tame such exporters. However, the support package would be given on FoB (free on board) value of export proceeds, he said. In the last few years, the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) has been plagued with corruption in subsidy schemes announced to promote the country’s exports. The minister said the head of the authority was appointed from the private sector to check such corruption in such schemes. His focus was on complete liberalisation of trade with India, especially opening of
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
Lahore MCC Appraisement collects additional Rs 182m
Wagah border for all tradable products. “I am still optimistic to resume talks on the same package agreed in March 2014,” he said. Under the proposed package, India will have to reduce customs duties on 100 items of exports interest of Pakistan. In response, Pakistan will have to allow trade of all commodities via Wagah border. Currently, Pakistan has allowed import of only 137 items via land route from India. More than 5,000 items are importable from India via sea route. While he was not optimistic about the old package to come under consideration, he said he believed that liberalising trade with India was in favour of Pakistan.
More than 5,000 items are importable from India via sea route
The minister agreed that the revival of composite dialogue was one of the important factors for resumption of trade talks with India. A decision has been taken to establish land port authorities at Chaman, Wagah border and Torkham, he said. “We will start work on these land port authorities very soon.” On trade with Afghanistan, Dastgir said his government would consider customs union with Kabul. “We will collect tax and duties for Afghanistan at our ports,” he said, adding that this would be submitted to Afghan government. He said the customs union with Afghanistan would resolve the issue of smuggling. The minister added that trade ofRicers would be appointed on merit.
Appeal to stop harassment of importers To,
their work for his personal unfair income. We have to pay heavy demurrage but his personal staff is continuously harassing the importers and clearing agents. He doesn’t clear consignments of those importers who don’t give him speed money. But according to the Customs Act 1969, no provision gives him right to stop the work of importers at this stage. I had sent many complaints about him but no action had been taken against him on Deputy Collector’s level. I humbly request you to please take action against him and release the importers from this kind of harassment.
The Collector of Customs, Port Muhammad Bin Qasim, Karachi Dear Sir, We are importers we have every reason to believe that we are dedicated importers and always pay taxes and customs duties to the government without any delay. Our complaint, in brief, is that staff member Shabir and Gohar (UDC), Cash Department (Port Qasim) has been harassing all importers for several years. We, importers, Rile GDs of Safe Transportation (ST) and our factories and ofRices are located at Lahore and Karachi. All the correspondence of our import deals are done through Karachi ofRice, so im-
port documents are given the address of Karachi ofRice but when we e-Rile the GDs, Lahore address is applied, because our Lahore OfRice address is mentioned on NTN Num-
ber and PARL System gets address from NTN Number. In this dispute, Shabir and Gohar don’t give the Cash No. on GDs and harass the importers and hinder
Thanking you in advance Yours Sincerely, Muhammad Idrees, Karachi
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10 PICTORIAL
JULY 15 - JULY 21, 2014
Fc seizes 160,000 litres of Irani smuggled oil
GWADAR: Frontier Corps (FC) during a raid at Sakran Road in Lasbela tehsil of Balochistan has recovered five tankers with 160,000 litres of Irani smuggled oil worth millions of rupees. According to FC spokesman, the oil was being smuggled from Gwadar through Kachha. FC made a timely raid and foiled the smuggling bid. FC has handed over the smuggled oil to officials at Gaddani Customs House, Gwadar. As per Customs officials, value of the smuggled oil is to be millions of rupees.
Dg I&I seizes contraband goods worth millions in June
MCC Hyderabad collects Rs769.211m, makes 188 seizures of HSD, tyres, auto parts HYDERABAD
ASlAM ANJUM QUreSHI www.customstoday.com
ISLAMABAD
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he Directorate General of Investigation and Intelligence recovered illegal items including non-customs paid (NCP) vehicles, heavy bikes, generators, solar fans, foreign cloth, ball bearing, eye glasses, chemicals, Indian dry milk and others, having customs duty value of Rs36 million and CIF value of Rs82 million during June. According to Directorate General I&I Rawalpindi performance and evaluation report for June 2014, the Intelligence Unit seized Viscos Rayon worth around Rs11 million and having customs duty value of around Rs2.9 million, imported cloth worth of Rs25 million, having custom duty value Rs9 million, imported fabrics worth Rs10 and having customs duty value of Rs3.5 million, Indian dry milk worth Rs100,000 with custom duty value amounting to Rs51000, generators and compressors
uring Financial Year 2013-14, the Model Customs Collectorate Hyderabad has produced remarkable results in its revenue collection and antismuggling operations. In the last month of June 2014, Rs.769.211 million were collected under the head of customs duty. Likewise an amount of Rs.7144.281 million was collected in FY 2013-14. Revenue collection of the Collectorate has been declined due to less clearance of HSD contributing more than 80% of revenue generation. Under the heads of FED and WHT, the collection exceeded by 17.5% and 10% respectively in comparison with FY 201213. In the follow-up of strict instructions issued by the Collector, Model Customs Collectorte, Hyderabad to all the antismuggling formations to utilize all resources to curb the menace of smuggling, the three Special Anti Smuggling Squads i.e. Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana have made a total number of 188 seizures of various smuggled items including HSD, Tyres, auto parts and electronic items etc, valuing at Rs.283.264 million, exceeding Rs.91.705 million or 47.872% in value and 21 or 12.574% in number of seizures as compared to financial year 2012-13.
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
worth of Rs15 million and having custom duty value of Rs7.8 million, Corolla car worth of Rs1.4 million having custom duty value of Rs1.4 million, ball bearing, plastic eye glasses, solar fans and cigarette lighters worth of Rs4.8 million and
having custom duty value of Rs2 million and different types of generators worth Rs21 million with custom duty of Rs5.3 million. In addition to the Toyota Hiace van worth of Rs1.7 million having custom duty of Rs2 million.
Rawalpindi Directorate is commanding by the Director I&I Chaudhary ZulRiqar with the supporting team members of Additional Director Mohammad Saleem, Additional Director Dr Mohammad Nasir and Deputy Director Shahid Jan.
ISlAMABAD: President, Mamnoon Hussain met with a delegation of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) at Aiwan-e-Sadr. Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir is also seen in the picture.
ISlAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chairing a meeting with members of the cricket team. FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa also attended the meeting.
kArAcHI: Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan talking to Director Customs Intelligence Muhammad Asif Margoob Siddiqui along with family during a meeting at Governor House.
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NATIONAL 11
JULY 15 - JULY 21, 2014
Fc expresses inability to curb oil smuggling from Iran
ISLAMABAD: Citing limited resources, the Frontier Corps has declined to help the government in curbing oil smuggling from Iran into Balochistan, a Senate panel was informed. “The FC has its hands full trying to maintain security in the province and on the border. It is under-resourced. It cannot take on additional responsibilities under the circumstances prevailed over Balochistan,” Lt-Col Naeem said at a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Rules of Procedures and Privileges.
Member FATe to start awareness campaign about revised finance bill PESHAWAR
NADer kHAN
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BR has decided to organize seminars and conferences with collaboration of chambers of commerce and trade unions to guide business community on revised Rinance bill. As per details, FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa directed FBR Member Tax Facilitation Riffat Shaheen, to start nationwide awareness campaigns for business and trade community on revised bill. The decision has been taken after the complaints about the modiRication in the Rinance bill of current Riscal year. The objective of these awareness campaigns is to guide business community about amendments in the finance bill. Moreover, these campaigns will help FBR to avoid any legal trial which may be resulted because of possible misinterpretation of
MCC Sialkot seizes 3.7kg heroin, arrests 2 smugglers
collector Qurban Ali nti Smuggling Squad of Model Customs Collectorate of Sialkot seized as many as 3.7 kgs fine quality heroin (worth millions of rupees) from a dubious car and arrested the two accused smugglers, besides, foiling a bid to smuggle heroin to Sialkot region from Peshawar. According to the senior officials, both arrested accused Noorud Din and Muhammad Rehman belonged to Para Chinar-Peshawar. Accused also belonged to an inter-province gang of smugglers. The officials added that the MCC Sialkot’s Anti Smuggling Squad led by Shafaqatul Zaman Cheema (Deputy Superintendent Customs Sialkot) checked a dubious car and recovered said quantity of heroin from the car near Wapda Town Gujranwala, as the accused were trying to smuggle this heroin to Sialkot region from Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. The officials added that accused were being interrogated and further investigations were underway. Meanwhile, Collector of Customs Sialkot Qurban Ali Khan has highly hailed this effort and he vowed to continue anti smuggling struggle. —CT Report
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revised laws by business community.While talking to Customs Today, FBR Member Tax Facilitation Riffat Shaheen said that conferences and seminars will be organized to create awareness among business community about new amendments in the bill. She said these awareness campaigns will be held next month in all major cities of Pakistan including Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Sialkot, and Quetta. She said that invitation letters are disparaged to federations, chambers of commerce and trade unions, while schedule of sessions will be announced after consultation with partner institutions. Moreover, she said FBR will also advertise about the schedule and details of awareness campaigns in print and electronic media. She added that credit of achieving the revenue target for previous Riscal year goes to FBR Chairman and his dedicated team members who made this possible.
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12
JULY 15 - JULY 21, 2014
— Exclusive Customs Today photo
FBr asks govt to reduce revenue target of rs2810b
ISLAMABAD
MUHAMMAD FAIZAN www.customstoday.com
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BR ofRicials have proposed the federal government to review its Rs2810 billion revenue target and asked to decrease it to Rs 2700 billion for Riscal year 2014-15. An ofRicial source told Customs Today that even Government has yet not replied in this regard but agreed to cut down the revenue target. Top ofRicials from FBR made it clear to
the government that in prevailing circumstances the proposed target seems to be impossible to achieve. FBR ofRicials advised the government that it should review its target now instead of changing the plan in mid year. They argued that reviewing the target now will make work of Rield formation ofRicers easier and organized. The given target was set to fulRill the promise with IMF of increasing 1% tax-to-GDP ratio every year. In this Riscal year, Rs 600 billion increase in revenue collection also shows a 1% increase in tax-to-GDP ratio. It is said that FBR Member Inland Revenue Shahid Asad is playing vital role to pursue the government in this regard.
Published by M. F. Riaz, Off. 91, 3rd Flr, Gul Plaza, M.A. Rd., Karachi, for Customs Today and Printed at Dhoom Printing Press Masheer Mahal Building, Off: I. I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi