KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Tariq Bajwa on Wednesday visited the Customs House Karachi and held a series of meetings related to revenue, automation and anti-smuggling activities.
These meetings were attended by the Enforcement-South Chief Collector Zahid Khokhar, Appraisement-South Chief Collector Abdul Rasheed Sheikh, Appraisement-West Collector Dr Jawwad Owais Agha, Appraisement-East Collector Abdul Majid Yousfani, MCC Preventive Collector Syed Muhammad Tariq Huda, Collector MCC Exports Dr Saifuddin Junejo, Director Reforms and Automation Manzoor Hussain Memon, Collector Adjudication-I Wasif Memon, Collector Adjudication-II Chaudhary Javed, Director Post Clearance Audit Gul Rehman, Customs Internal Audit Director General Rubina Wasti and others.
On the occasion, the customs high-ups briefed the FBR chairman on the revenue collection status and also described the shortage of workforce at the official level.
The FBR high-ups assured customs officers that the issues pertaining to the shortage of staffers would be addressed and urged the customs authorities to continue their efforts in the positive direction.
FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa reiterated that the Pakistan Customs being one of the key departments in collecting revenue should keep a close eye on crooked elements.
Bajwa further stressed the need for eliminating corrupt elements from Pakistan Customs, and urged officials to provide maximum facilities to importers and the business community.
On the occasion, the FBR Chairman also reviewed the performance of the Directorate of Internal Audit and said that the department should make efforts in order to produce maximum results.
Internal Audit DG Rubina Wasti briefed the FBR Chairman on the audit-paras established and sent to the respective collectorates across the country.
The FBR Chairman asked Directorate General of Reforms and Automation Director Manzoor Memon to speed up the work on completion of pending modules in WeBOC automated system.
The FBR chairman assured the customs officers that the FBR would take up the matter before the federal finance minister and informed them that letters have already been sent to the Ministry of Commerce and the FIA authorities in this regard.
The FBR Chairman also asked the authorities concerned of the adjudicating collectorates to inform him about the issues prevailing in the collectorates in order to adjudicate high-profile cases. Chief Collector Enforcement-South Zahid Khokhar Chief Collector Muhammad Nazim Saleem briefed the FBR Chairman on the steps taken by the south region to avert smuggling activities.