Tax records of members of a family in Sindh leaked, confirms FTO

ISLAMABAD: Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has confirmed that a family dispute in Sindh resulted in the leakage of tax records and wealth statements of entire members of a family to allegedly blackmail them by accessing to confidential information of their properties/ bank accounts, etc.

In this regard, the FTO has issued an order with directions to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to stop Director I & I Hyderabad from investigating the case so that he cannot influence investigation of the complainant.

According to the FTO order, the complaint was filed in terms of section 10(1) of the Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance, 2000 (FTC Ordinance) against alleged abuse of power, blackmailing and torture by Pir Khalid Ahmed Qureshi, presently posted as Director Intelligence & Investigations (l& I) IR Hyderabad.

Briefly, the complainant Pir Muhammad Baqi, a 70 years old retired government servant, resident of Nawabshah is maternal uncle of complainee Pir Khalid Ahmed Qureshi, presently posted as Director I & I Hyderabad.

As per complaint, the complainee during his posting at I & I Hyderabad in 2020, extracted confidential FBR record of his family members including bank accounts and blackmailed his son Pir Salahuddin with dire threats to involve all of family members in money laundering, benami assets and NAB cases.

As per allegations, complaints were lodged through Ali Murad Mugheri (a farmer of complainee) to FIA, Anti-corruption establishment Shaheed Benazirabad and NAB using confidential FBR record of his family members in 2021.

A bogus FIR was also lodged by Pir Shoaib Ahmed Qureshi, brother of complainee on 26.05.2022 on complainant’s son Pir Salahuddin. Being aggrieved, the complainant lodged complaint before Prime Minister, Chairman FBR, Member Operations, Member Admin & HR and Secretary Establishment but without any success.

Recently, the Deputy Director I & I Hyderabad has been seeking bank records of all family members whose credentials were leaked by complainee through his front man Pir Shoaib Ahmed Qureshi, a lawyer by profession and brother of complainee.

Further, Commissioner Anti Benami Initiative Zone-Ill Karachi has also started investigation on complaint by Pir Shoaib Ahmed Qureshi. The complainant prayed for necessary legal action against Pir Khalid Ahmed Qureshi, presently posted as Director I & I Hyderabad for abuse of powers and illegal use of FBR confidential tax records of his family members, FTO order said.

Evidently, there is no doubt that sanctity and secrecy of confidential IRIS/ FBR record of family members of the complainant has been breached but there is no solid or conclusive evidence as such to put entire blame on Pir Khalid Ahmed Qureshi, Commissioner I&I Hyderabad for this breach and establish ‘maladministration’ as such under section 2(3) of FTO Ordinance.

However, on receipt of complaint from Pir Shoaib Ahmed Qureshi, the Directorate has initiated investigation for unexplainable income, money trail and loss of tax revenue against all family members of the complainant. Therefore, any investigation of the family members of the complainant under direct control of accused Pir Khalid Ahmed Qureshi as a Director of I & I Hyderabad will be a mockery of justice, FTO order stated.

Perusal of details of information submitted by Pir Shoaib Ahmed Qureshi reveals that the information of immoveable properties, bank accounts, motor vehicles, life insurance, prize bonds, advances, etc., of family members of the complainant follows the same sequence of wealth statement re-filed by any taxpayer which confirms that the sanctity and secrecy of confidential FBR record of family members of the complainant has been breached.

The complainant alleged that Pir Khalid Ahmed Qureshi, Commissioner I&I Hyderabad extracted this information by abusing his position of authority and handed it over to his brother Pir Shoaib Ahmed Qureshi for blackmailing & torture. However, the complainant could not provide any solid or conclusive evidence related to this allegation except some WhatsApp/ Facebook messages.

On the other hand, Pir Khalid Ahmed Qureshi denied the allegation of extracting the information from IRIS of FBR database and Pir Shoaib Ahmed Qureshi submitted that this information were given to him by his late father who is brother-in-law of the complainant and the complainant used to share these data with his late father for necessary advice.

FTO has recommended that in view of discussions supra, FBR is directed to either transfer Pir Khalid Ahmed Qureshi from the position of Director I & I Hyderabad so that he cannot influence investigation of the complainant; or transfer the entire case record related to investigation of the complainant’s family members to Director I &I Karachi or to the Commissioner Anti-Benami Initiative Karachi, who is already investigating this issue on receipt of this complaint through PMDU.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023