Clearance of containers without physical check: CEA demands extension of probe to high customs officials

Customs Employees' Association (CEA) has demanded to extend the scope of the inquiry, being carried out against only the lower staff on the charges of clearing 265 containers without physical examination during October 2006 to July 2007, to the high-ranking customs officers.
Talking to Business Recorder here on Tuesday, President CEA Rao Nusrat Ali said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had earlier suspended some 19 officials for their alleged involvement in clearance of some 265 containers through PaCCS and reinstated 10 officials after a strong protest by the employees on May 3, 2008. But, since then the remaining nine employees were waiting for their restoration orders, he added.
He said that the board always took action against the low-ranking officials while these officials could not carry out such illegal activity without the patronage of their high-ups.
"FBR has once again started probe against all the 19 low-ranking officials, ignoring the inquiry report of Hafiz Anees, former member customs, who had clearly made the bigwigs of the customs department responsible in his report for the scam," he added. Rao urged the board to take indiscriminate action against all those involved in the scam.
He claimed that the low-ranking officials let the consignments to pass through PaCCS without physical examination on the directives of Mrs Rifat Abbasi, who was collector port Qasim during the said period. He argued that they had no power to examine and verify the consignments physically. "Therefore, CEA demands impartial inquiry against all those involved in the scam," he said.