LAHORE: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced disciplinary action against four officers from the Collectorate of Customs Sambrial, Sialkot, following their involvement in a case of goods mis-declaration linked to a transshipment consignment processed under TP No. KPPO-TP-24787 on November 6, 2024.
The officials — Atif Hanif (Principal Appraiser), Adeel Qurban (Appraising Officer), Adnan (Appraising Officer), and Muhammad Anique Jamil (Inspector) — were found responsible for procedural lapses during the clearance of an import consignment that contained undeclared goods. The consignment, flagged earlier by Port Qasim officials through the WeBOC system, was nonetheless released without proper scrutiny.
An inquiry conducted by a Grade 19 officer, Muhammad Rizwan, confirmed that while no direct corruption or collusion with the importer could be proven, the accused were negligent in carrying out standard verification procedures. Specifically, they failed to review an alert on misdeclaration visible in the WeBOC system’s “Previous Reference Tab.”
The FBR, following a formal inquiry and personal hearings, imposed the following penalties:
Atif Hanif has been demoted from Principal Appraiser (BS-17) to Appraising Officer (BS-16) for one year. His performance allowance has been suspended for the same period, and his suspension is to be treated as leave.
Adeel Qurban, who had only three months of service at the time of the incident, was downgraded to Upper Division Clerk (BS-13) for one year. He has also been reinstated under similar terms.
Adnan has received a two-year demotion to UDC (BS-13) without cumulative effect, reflecting a more severe penalty.
Muhammad Anique Jamil faced the harshest action, with a two-year downgrade to UDC (BS-13), reinstatement, and a one-year performance allowance suspension.
The FBR maintained that the disciplinary actions are aimed at reinforcing procedural diligence and accountability within the customs framework. The board clarified that while corruption was not established, the failure to act on system-generated alerts posed a significant risk to regulatory compliance.
All four officers have been notified of their right to appeal the decision within 30 days under the Civil Servants (Appeals) Rules, 1977.
