KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue has formed an inquiry committee, comprising FBR Member Customs, FBR Member IT and two other members, to find out the motive behind repeated extensions in the agreement with M/s Agility for rollout of Pakistan Customs Computerised System (PaCCS) and payment of $11.5 million to the company.
Sources said that FBR has made payments to the said company from time to time which also be probed by the committee. The whole issue would be examined on the pretext that whether formal written contract was inked between FBR and the said company for making payments and rollout of PaCCS.
The Board-in-Council has directed the committee that the report of the fact-finding inquiry shall be submitted within 60 days. In May, 2005 PaCCS was launched (with limited functionalities) at Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT) Karachi Port for automated and paperless customs clearances.
The said company was selected for the development of a software and had the mandate to review the business cycles, reengineer the business procedures and get it translated into a software. The duration of the contract was seven months. The PaCCS, in a pilot mode, was later rolled out to two other terminals, i.e., PICT and QICT, at Karachi Port without formal contractual arrangement, with the company. Later the audit system of the PaCCS revealed that the system created as a Pilot had very limited functionalities. In 2010, FBR asked the company to wind-up its operations in Pakistan.
The company claimed cost of its services given to FBR for a period of around four years. In the meantime, the company filed a case before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), FBR forcing to defend its case at international level.
