The Supreme Court will release in the next two days a written order on non-implementation of its order in the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) container scam case. A three-judge bench of the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed resumed the hearing of the Isaf container scam.
At the outset of hearing, Shamim Rana, the counsel for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), submitted a detailed report in pursuance of the court orders pertaining to actions against those involved in the scam. Rana informed the bench that the FBR was facing problems in recovering amounts in the instant matter, maintaining that businesses of the importers of ISAF goods were located in Afghanistan.
The report disclosed that the national kitty suffered a loss of Rs 54.73 billion and the FBR had issued as many as 11,589 show cause notices to container owners involved in the scam whereas a total of 32,452 container owners were involved in the matter. He further contended that the FBR had also issued show cause notices to planning agents, border agency and National Logistic Cell. The Chief Justice remarked that no tangible effort was made by the concerned authority to recover the money and the FBR's claim of progress in the instant matter was 'much ado about nothing.' The bench observed that the deputed probing officer had been removed so recovery was just an eyewash and queried why the matter should not be referred to the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO).
Justice Gulazar Ahmed questioned why FBR had not taken any action against customs officers involved in the scam while Justice Ahmed observed that no revenue had been generated from the Afghan Transit Trade so far. Rana contended that the probe into the Isaf container scam was beyond the jurisdiction of the FTO under the Customs Act, arguing that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was initiating proceedings against some customs officers.
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