Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has forwarded a case of forgery of taxpayer' signatures on the stamp paper application for National Tax Number (NTN) to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for criminal investigation into the matter and ordered FBR to conduct enquiry to determine how and by whom the defective NTN certificate was issued.
Sources told Business Recorder that in a landmark judgement recently issued by the FTO it is ordered by the FTO to devise a fool proof SOP with the consultation of National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C) wing of FIA to stop the use of fraudulently prepared documents in PRAL and devise a policy to validate all NTN's on the PRAL data base through a system of biometric verification.
It is learnt that copy of the Findings/Recommendations, along with copy of complaint and all documents presented/obtained during investigation has also been forwarded to the F.I.A for initiating criminal investigation into the forgery of complainant's signatures on the so called stamp paper application for NTN and the change in NTN particulars application.
When contacted Waheed Shahzad Butt, Advocate who represented the case of complainant before FTO, told this correspondent that a complaint against unauthorised CNIC access and unilateral issuance of NTN and subsequent amendment therein, was forwarded to the FTO by a Lahore-based citizen Ali Mansoor Khan whose CNIC has been misused by PRAL officials for issuance of changes in NTN particulars at Faisalabad.
FTO order states "Complainant contends that PRAL/RTO Faisalabad allegedly, unilaterally issued a National Tax Number in his name when he had not submitted any application and later, on 25.08.2011, modified the same on the basis of dubious documents. Furthermore, the amended NTN Certificate showed him, statedly wrongly, to have been associated with one, M/s Al-Khawan Enterprises, Faisalabad. The Complainant says that he is a resident of Model Town, Lahore, and has never been employed in Faisalabad or conducted any business there, alone or in partnership/collaboration with any other person(s). He says that he accidentally discovered that he was borne on the FBR income tax rolls when he enquired about applying for an NTN certificate after getting a job in a Lahore based construction company.
The complainant contested the veracity of the applications (NTN / Change in particulars /STRN) referred to above. He stated that the so called stamp paper application attributed to him was prima facie, a bogus document. He stated that his signature on the stamp paper had allegedly been forged. The stamp paper was undated/unnumbered and very importantly, there was no stamp vendor's certification on the backside of the stamp paper. Furthermore, the Complainant contends that his alleged signature on the change in particulars application form is also a forgery. His cell No, email address, Bank Account (MCB, Dhuddiwala Branch, Faisalabad) cited on the TRF-01 application form are all statedly wrongly cited.
PRAL has suffered adverse comment from the FTO earlier as well. The fact remains that despite huge investment in PRAL infrastructure it remains highly deficient in implementing protocols ostensibly set up to efficiently process and dispose of taxpayers queries relating to various issues and problems that they routinely face in their dealings with the Deptt. The present complainant too has obviously suffered at PRAL's hands but the organisation obstinately refuses to acknowledge any shortcoming or wrongdoing on its part. As a result, it refuses to take corrective action. Again, the alleged submission of a seriously flawed sales tax STRN application by complainant at Lahore after allegedly filing a flawed NTN application at Faisalabad, is not credible to say the least. From the ambient circumstances in this case, it appears that the real objective of some elements in PRAL was to obtain an STRN in complainant's name. had it actually materialized, the STRN would have been misused to the detriment of the Complainant: FTO order added.
The circumstances and highly suspect sequence of events discussed supra raise many questions and strongly suggest foul play by PRAL functionaries. There is need that the Deptt accepts these happenings and takes concrete steps to ensure that others are spared such harassment and the fraud that is being perpetrated in the Deptt due to documents contrived fraudulently comes to an end. FBR to conduct enquiry to determine how and by whom the defective NTN certificate was issued in Complainant's name; devise a fool proof SOP with the consultation of National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C) wing of FIA to stop the use of fraudulently prepared documents in PRAL and devise a policy to validate all NTN's on the PRAL data base through a system of biometric verification: FTO observed.
A copy of the above Findings/Recommendations, along with copy of complaint and all documents presented/obtained during investigation be forwarded to the F.I.A for initiating criminal investigation into the forgery of complainant's signatures on the so called stamp paper application for NTN and the change in NTN particulars application: FTO order stated.
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