KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has expressed serious concern over unfounded allegations of ‘fixing’ tax record of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members by two senior FBR officers.
According to the details, Public Relation Secretary Hamid Raza Khan has said that the FBR considers the tax record of all taxpayers as a sacred trust and under section 216 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, it cannot be shared with unauthorized persons.
He also stated that the FBR has fool-proof automated processes for record maintenance and no individual can alter, edit or modify the record except as provided under the law and standard operating procedures. The record is stored in secure database and any access to the same is automatically recorded by the system. On the other hand, there is no question of tampering with the record in any manner whatsoever.
Rejecting the allegations the Public Relation secretary stated that the allegations are totally false and baseless and constitute an attempt to bring two very competent, honest and senior officers of FBR enjoying impeccable reputation of integrity and professional competence to disrepute, can demoralize and discourage the employees of FBR who had just recently been successful in making an unprecedented accomplishment of surpassing a massive collection target of Rs 3104 Billion during financial year 2015-16.
FBR expects that while issuing such statements our political leaders would consider the adverse impact such statements have on the individual’s reputation in the society and the morale of national institutions. The employees of FBR feel disheartened and demoralized. It would be in best national interest if such allegations are retracted and FBR is allowed to continue performing its functions and duties in a non-partisan manner, added, Secretary Public Relations Hamid Raza Khan.
