KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has written a letter to the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and the Federal Intelligence Agency (FIA) to stop harassing the customs officials in a fabricated cases allegedly established by the FIA officials regarding the clearance of pharmaceutical raw material.
Sources informed Customs Today that the FBR authorities urged the FIA to ensure resolution of the said issue once and for all and not to tarnish the image of the Pakistan Customs.
In the letter, the FBR authorities were of the view that the customs officials cleared the consignments of pharmaceutical raw material as per Import Policy Order, 2013 (IPO).
The FBR authorities were of the view that Section 217 of the Customs Act, 1969 does not allow any state organisation to take any legal action against the customs officials, as it stated that “No suit, prosecution and any legal action could be taken against the federal government servant”.
They further said that in terms of Serial No 7, Part-II (Procedural Requirements) to Appendix-B read with paragraph 5(B)(i) of the Import Policy Order (IPO), 2013 in vogue, the import of pharmaceutical (allopathic) raw material of pharmaceutical grade in the form of unprocessed ingredients is allowed, inter-alia, to pharmaceutical industries holding valid pharmaceutical manufacturing licence in accordance with the provisions of Drug (Import and Export) Rules, 1976.
“The Import Policy Order, 2013 stated that the import shall be allowed to pharmaceutical industries holding valid pharmaceutical manufacturing licence in accordance with the provision of Drug (Imports & Exports) Rules, 1976,” it further added.
However, the Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) was of the view that the Pakistan Customs’ officials were involved in illegal clearance of pharmaceutical raw material, as the importer Intervac (Pvt) Limited, Lahore did not have the clearance certificate, which is mandatory under Rule 15 of the Drug (Import & Export) Rules, 1976.
It is pertinent to mention here that the said case was unearthed in the month of August last year in which the Federal Drug Authority forwarded the findings of the case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further investigation.
Later on, the FIA issued notices to 76 customs officials, who were allegedly found involved in the clearance of consignments of pharmaceutical raw material by illegal and unlawful means without getting permission from the officers of the Federal Drug Authority (FDA) which is mandatory under Rule 15 of the Drug Imports & Export Rules 1976.
Recently, the FIA authorities issued arrest warrants against 76 customs officials and reacting on the development, those customs officials got protective bail from the courts. Now, the FBR authorities want a permanent solution to the problem.
