ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) President and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain has said that the refund mafia has badly affected the foundations of country and urged the government to adopt an automate refund system.
While talking to media, Mian Zahid said that the automatic refunds would eliminate refund mafia, end delay in payments, trigger exports and may help trading community protesting withholding tax on bank transactions. He demanded immediate legislation and installation of software which automatically process the refund claims and transfer money in the account of exporter within seven days of export.
The PBIF president said that if transactions through credit or debit card can be updated within seconds, the same can be applied in refunds. Many countries have a system in place where the customer of train or bus gets refund deposited in his bank account and he is notified through SMS if arrival is delayed.
Zahid said that refunds worth over one hundred billion have stuck in FBR since long discouraging exporters. RTOs have issued Refund Payment Orders in many cases but FBR is reluctant to release cheques which is against the law of payment within one week that has pushed many exporters to the wall.
