KARACHI: The Directorate General of Internal Audit-Customs has detected and sent audit paras amounting to Rs 240 million – in addition to audit paras amounting to Rs 400 million already sent – in connection with the short revenue collection in terms of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) certificate issuance by the field formation collectorates.
Sources confirmed to Customs Today that the authorities concerned of the Customs Internal Audit scrutinised the clearance data in connection with FTA and PTA certificate issuance from 2012 to 2013.
During scrutiny, around Rs 240 million short revenue collection was witnessed in three collectorates of Pakistan Customs Services – Model Customs Collectorate Appraisement-West, Appraisement-East and Port Muhammad Bin Qasim.
The sources said that the authorities concerned of all three field formation collectorates have not yet responded to the audit paras sent by the Internal Audit in terms of FTA and PTA certificate issuance.
The directorate had also established audit paras amounting to Rs 400 million in FTA and PTA cases in 2014, and sent those audit paras to the respective collectorates for recovering the leaked amount.
The sources further said that the authorities concerned of the three respective collectorates have not yet responded accordingly.
They further said that the cold-blooded response from the field formation collectorates in terms of reply to audit paras would certainly affect the revenue status, as a significant amount may be collected by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) if the authorities concerned took interest in replying to the FTA and PTA audit paras.
The sources said that recent transfer and posting of customs officers from the Directorate of Internal Audit would certainly affect the ongoing pace of work at the directorate, as the officers were well settled and working with great technique and enthusiasm.
