KARACHI: The Senior Preventive Officers (SPOs) and Preventive Officers (POs) have expressed their concerns over the suspension of their 13 colleagues for allegedly clearing 40 to 45 consignments without duty tax during 2012-13.
One of the SPOs while talking to Customs Today said that it is a injustice to suspend the SPOs and POs only, as the Principal Appraisers (PAs) and Appraisers of Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Appraisement-South are equally responsible for the alleged corruption.
“The Senior Preventive Officers and Preventive Officers have multi tasks to do and they are posted at different gates of MCC Port Qasim in a day while they have to perform their duties at MTO and Ghans Bandar as well,” he added.
Revenue Division of FBR through a Notification No. 2632-C-III/2013 issued on Nov 6, 2013 has suspended 13 Customs officials of BS-16 of Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Port Qasim for the period of three months.
The suspended officials included Abu Ahad (PO), Zahid Ali Siddiqui (PO), Shahid Zubair Ahmed Khan (PO), Ejaz Ahmad (SPO), Azam Ali Baloch (PO), Syed Ali Gohar Shah (SPO), Muhammad Yameen (SPO), Zulfiqar Ahmad (SPO), Munir Hussain Iqbal (SPO), Syed Tariq H Firidi (SPO), Abdul Jabbar Khan (SPO), Haq Nawaz (PO) and Niaz Ali Qureshi (SPO).
The cases of tax evasion were detected by Customs Intelligence and Investigation (I&I), Karachi.
A senior official of Customs I&I told this scribe that the FIRs have been registered against the importers and Customs agents who found involved in the cases of tax evasion. He further said that the recovery of evaded duty taxes has already been in process.
