ISLAMABAD: Collector Adjudication Dr Sadiqullah Khan has proposed that a new Risk Management System should be introduced for transparent use of green channel facility. Reforms should also be introduced in management and human resource development system.
Collector Dr Sadiqullah expressed these views during an exclusive interview with Customs Today. He said that list of Afghan Transit Trade should be reviewed. “If we want to develop the institution then we will have to change the culture from top to bottom. Federal Board of Revenue is one of the best institutions in the country and we can compare it with any international organization,” he added.
He said new risk management system should be based on ten years profile of importer, if an importer’s record is clear of any FIR or complaint, then he should be permitted to use the green channel facility.
Dr Sadiqullah said that Green Channel facility is basically for genuine importers and for those who are running manufacturing units and exporting their products. He said there should be some check and balance in green channel and in this regard importers’ track record plays very important role.
He said Afghan Transit Trade is also the main reason for burdening on seaport. Ministry of Commerce should review the Afghan Transit Trade list. There are so many goods on Afghan Transit Trade list which are not being used in Afghanistan and these items are only consumed in Pakistan and they are smuggled back to Pakistan under Afghan Transit Trade.
He said that motivation is a key to show better performance. “If we want to improve the performance of lower grade staff, we will have to adopt new policy and besides this, we need to train them according to new world standards,” he suggested.
He explained that salary is not important for motivation but the promotion plays critical role to improve the performance. He said there is no promotion policy from grade 1 to 16 employees and now “we need to change this policy”.
He said world is changing rapidly but “we are running organization on same old pattern, our lower staff is not well aware of these changes”, in fact the customs staff working in field formations should also be sent for training and refresher courses after every six months or a year period.
It is important to mention here that Collector Sadiqullah Khan is a literary person and he has written four English poetry books, which are available online at Amazon book store. He is also a good photographer.
It is important to mention here that Customs Today has been reporting on abuse of green channel since past many years. Mega brands like Mobilink and QMobile were reported to be grossly abusing Green Channel facility with connivance of Customs staff. Customs Today exposed mega smuggling scam of Digicom Company (Q-Mobile) as the company cleared more than 750 containers through green channel. In another case, the company did not pay Sales Tax of Rs 772 million on import of total 2,410,560 mobiles.
On 2nd February 2018, Customs Today exposed a smuggling bid of 15,520 liters of dual use precursor acetic anhydride worth around $1.5 million at Port Qasim. The acetic anhydride is a main ingredient for preparing narcotics substance as well as making highly dangerous explosives by the terrorist outfits. Then, Customs Today published several reports about betel nuts smuggling worth billions of rupees through ports at Port Qasim and Appraisement East Collectorate.
These reports led to multiple raids, tens of FIRs and recoveries of illegally cleared goods worth billions of rupees. In fact, in a single raid at a SITE area godown, 600,000 kgs of betel nuts worth Rs 1.5 billion were seized. Notwithstanding, these actions were only as token in nature and is a drop in the ocean whereas much more needs to be done. Customs Today also published investigative reports about changing of strategies by green channel smugglers as they started clearing illegal goods through yellow channel & TP.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan also took notice of the green channel illegal clearances and the court associate sent a copy to the NAB chief for necessary action.