KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Tariq Bajwa and Customs Member Nisar Muhammad Ali Khan on Friday visited the Customs House Karachi and held a series of meetings related to revenue, automation and anti-smuggling activities.
These meetings were attended by the Enforcement-South Chief Collector Muhammad Nazim Saleem, Appraisement-South Chief Collector Nasir Masroor Ahmed, Appraisement-West Collector Muhammad Saleem, Appraisement-East Collector Manzoor Hussain Memon, Appraisement Port Muhammad Bin Qasim Collector Surriya Butt, Gwadar Collector Dr Jawwad Owais Agha, MCC Preventive Collector Syed Muhammad Tariq Huda, the MCC Quetta collector, Directorate of Reforms and Automation Director Abdul Majid Yousfani, Directorate of Transit Trade Director General Khawar Farid Maneka, Customs Adjudication-I Collector Dr Farid Iqbal Qureshi, Customs Adjudication-II Collector Dr Saifuddin Memon, Customs Internal Audit Director General Rubina Wasti and others officers.
The customs high-ups briefed the FBR chairman and customs member on the revenue collection status and also described the shortage of workforce at the official level.
The FBR high-ups assured customs officers that the issues pertaining to the shortage of staffers would be redressed soon, and urged the customs authorities to continue their efforts in the positive direction.
FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa reiterated that the Pakistan Customs being one of the key departments in collecting revenue should keep a close eye on crooked elements.
Bajwa further stressed the need for eliminating corrupt elements from Pakistan Customs, and urged officials to provide maximum facilities to importers and the business community.
On the occasion, the FBR chairman also reviewed the performance of the Directorate of Internal Audit and said that the department should make efforts in order to produce maximum results.
Internal Audit DG Rubina Wasti briefed the FBR chairman on the audit-paras established and sent to the respective collectorates across the country.
The FBR chairman asked Directorate General of Reforms & Automation Director Majid Yousufani to speed up the work on completion of pending modules in WeBOC automated system.
During the meetings, the case of pharmaceutical raw material, in which the FIA interrogated customs officials, was also discussed.
The FBR chairman assured the customs officers that the FBR would take up the matter before the federal finance minister and informed them that letters have already been sent to the Ministry of Commerce and the FIA authorities in this regard.
Customs Member Nisar Muhammad Khan reviewed the performance of adjudicating collectorates and asked the authorities concerned to ensure timely disposal of pending cases.
The customs member also asked the authorities concerned of the adjudicating collectorates to inform him about the issues prevailing in the collectorates in order to adjudicate high-profile cases.
Directorate of Transit Trade Director General Khawar Farid Maneka briefed the FBR high-ups on the latest developments made in order to improve the ATT activities.
Enforcement-South Chief Collector Muhammad Nazim Saleem briefed the FBR chairman on the steps taken by the south region to avert smuggling activities.
