The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday submitted an interim report regarding losses incurred to national kitty due to alleged smuggling of over 50,000 containers, meant for supplying goods to US and Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan.
A three-member bench of apex court, was hearing a suo motu case, about liquor smuggling in containers meant for carrying ammunition, food and other necessities of life for Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan. When the Chief Justice asked that how many containers did not reach Afghanistan, chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Salman Siddique said that Afghan government had been approached to get the record of the containers but they had provided record of only Chaman border so far.
According to the record, 2,981 containers were missing at Chaman border during last three years and the Pakistan government suffered a loss of Rs 7 billion. He told the court that notices were being sent on every transaction of Nato containers. The Supreme Court is currently hearing a case about the pilfering of container trucks and investigators probing the scam have claimed that over 50,000 containers were stolen with the collusion of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and National Logistics Cell (NLC).
The FBR and NLC are required to keep accurate entry and exit records but they had not done so, the report said. The tax evasion on the goods in the pilfered containers would amount to "trillion of rupees." The report also alleged that a "trans-national racket involving different governments" was involved in the scam. It alleged that Afghan authorities had not entertained Pakistan's request for information on the number of containers that had actually reached Afghanistan.
The investigators claimed the pilferage is being "in connivance with FBR officials who, instead of taking preventive measures, set up fact-finding committees to buy time to confuse the real issues. The investigators note a record rise in pilferage of 60 per cent last year, as compared to 36 per cent in 2009.
A report submitted to the Supreme Court had said the most conservative estimate puts the number of pilfered containers at 7,922, though investigators believe the figure could be more than 50,000 if accurate data was furnished by the FBR regarding the 306,267 containers that landed at Karachi port during January 2007-October 2010. The investigation led by Federal Tax Ombudsman Shoaib Suddle had described the FBR's data as "totally unreliable." The NLC's data "was also a total disappointment," said FTA report submitted to the apex court. The case was adjourned for four weeks.