Saturday, 21 April 2018

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ISLAMABAD

M ARSHAD

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he Finance Ministry holds the negative growth in exports coupled with failure to check a rise in machinery imports under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as the root cause of the widening trade account deOicit, a major component of the current account deOicit.

Moreover, the reason for the rise in deOicit is also

partly attributed to the failure in implementation of October 16, 2017 decision to levy regulatory duty on 731 import items, designed to meet the Oinancial requirements of the export incentive package. The State Bank of Pakistan (Thursday) reported $12.4 billion current account deOicit of Pakistan in nine months of Oinancial year 2017-18.

During the same period in 2016-17, the current account deOicit was only $8.35 billion. While commenting on the widening of current account deOicit, an ofOicial source at Finance Ministry

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told Customs Today that the massive decline in the international price of oil during 2014, 2015 and much of 2016 led to negative growth in imports during these years, however, by January 2017 imports began to rise 17.6 % in June 2017 to as high as 48.8%t in July 2017, 26.2 %t in October 2017 and 18 % last month. Imports were around $40 billion in 2012 and rose to $48 billion last year. Similarly, the source said that exports were $24.7 billion in 2012, but declined to $21.9 billion in 2017.

Negative exports growth & import under CPEC widen current account deficit

Customs Exports foils attempts to smuggle ‘precious’ antiques

Ahsan says national development outlay to be over Rs2,000b

TP mega scam: Dost facilitates smuggling at port using switch B/L

Customs earns Rs112m more revenue than allocated target during two weeks

Finance Ministry holds the negative growth in exports coupled with failure | See pAge 01 |

Customs Exports has foiled an attempt to smuggled antiques, including statues | See pAge 02 |

Ahsan has said that the total national developmentoutlayforthenextfinancialyear | See pAge 02 |

Smugglers are working hand in glove with Karachi East Collectorate | See pAge 05 |

MCC Islamabad surpassed an earmarked proportional revenue collection target | See pAge 08 |

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WB to provide Rs3b loan for Punjab govt Saturday, April 21, 2018

National

ISLAMABAD: World Bank will provide three billion rupees loan to Punjab government under Smart Programme to improve economic condition of farmers in the province.

Secretary Agriculture Punjab Muhammad Mahmood said that the loan will be provided for five years in agriculture, livestock, Industry, Food, Planning and Development sectors,Radio Pakistan reported.

customs exports foils attempts to smuggle ‘precious’ antiques

LAHORE

KARACHI

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wAQAR AHMeD AnSARi

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he Lahore High Court on expressed serious concerns over illegal detention of an innocent citizen by National Accountability Bureau in Sargodha, and summoned complete record of the case. A division bench headed by Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan raised the concerns while hearing a petition moved by Zahid Bilal challenging his arrest by the anti-corruption watchdog. He said that he was arrested by the NAB regarding Sargodha Industrial Park scam but during the course of investigation he was found innocent but was not released. At this, the bench summoned DG NAB Lahore Saleem Shehzad who appeared before the court. During the hearing, Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan expressed serious concerns over the arrest of the citizen, observing that “freedom and liberty of the citizens is the top priority,”. The bench emphasized that constitution of Pakistan guaranteed liberty of citizens and it is of foremost importance for the courts as well. The bench also warned that a heavy fine would be imposed on NAB for each day Zahid spent in jail if it is found guilty of keeping him in illegal detention.

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he Customs Exports has foiled an attempt to smuggled antiques, including statues of Buddha and lodged an FIR against M/s Natasha Enterprises and M/s Zaman & Co. M/s Natasha Enterprises Oiled goods declaration (GD) through agent M/s S. Zaman & Co to export artiOicial handicraft replicas to Hong Kong and was marked for examination by risk management system in WeBOC. The GD was marked by Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on hold and was examined and released by ANF staff. After than Customs examination was carried out to check the actual description and type of goods on the directives of Collector Saquib Saeed and Additional Collector Shafqat Niazi. The articles were then inspected by a team of curators, experts of Department of Archaeology and Culture, Karachi, which conOirmed that 16 out of 21 objects were antiques. Value and age is being determined by the same department.

Meanwhile, The Customs Export successfully collected Rs 22.78 million during the Oirst 18 days of April, while the Customs Export generated Rs 42.45 million during the previous month of March. Sources told Customs Today that Customs Export issued a total of nine show cause no-

LHc censures nAB over arrest of innocent citizen

tices out of which 6 Oinal notices were served on defaulter companies during the 18 days of April. The Customs Exports issued show cause notices to two factories in order to collect the evaded tax amount. The customs authorities issued notices to M/s Shakeel Traders and Export Karachi and M/s Faraz Marble Enterprises Karachi. M/s Shakeel Traders and Export Karachi used the wrong Pakistan Custom Tariff heading to get its leather and rexine

pieces cleared in the month of August 2017 and caused the national exchequer a loss of Rs 2.80 million.

Sources told that during scrutiny of import data, the Customs Exports detect that the company used the wrong PCT heading. After detecting the tax evasion, the customs authorities issued a show-cause notice No: 217/2018 to recover the evaded tax amount. Meanwhile, the Customs Exports uncovered another tax evasion committed by M/s Faraz Marble En-

terprises Karachi in marble top consignment on October 12 2017. The customs authorities, after a careful investigation, served show-cause notices on the above said companies and asked them for submitting the evaded tax amount within fortnight.

M/s Faraz Marble Enterprises Karachi used the wrong Pakistan Custom Tariff (PCT) heading to get its marble top consignment cleared and caused the national exchequer a loss of Rs 6.23 million.

Ahsan says national development outlay to be over Rs2,000b

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ISLAMABAD

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inister for Planning Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal has said that the total national development outlay for the next Oinancial year will be over Rs 2000 billion. After the day-long meeting of Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC), he said that the government has Oixed 6.2 percent growth target for 2018-19.

He said as the ministry of Oinance has proposed Rs 750 billion worth federal PSDP, APCC has proposed National Economic Council (NEC) to at least approve Rs 1000 billion worth PSDP as a huge cut in development budget will create problems. According to the minister, the target of inOlation during the Oiscal year 201819 has also been Oixed at 6 percent while the target of total investment against GDP has been set at 17.2 percent. Agricultural development target will be 3.8 percent, industrial de-

velopment target is to be 7.6 percent.

The growth in the services sector is targeted to be 6.5 percent. A growth target of 3.8 percent has been Oixed for the livestock sector. The government has also Oixed target of exports at $27.30 billion for the next Oinancial year ending June 2019, while imports in the same year have been projected at $56.50 billion. The trade deOicit is forecast to be $ 29.20 billion.

The current account deOicit is projected to be $ 12.50 billion which will be 3.8 percent of GDP. The govern-

ment has allocated Rs 61.50 billion for Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan for the next budget. During the meeting of APCC, Ahsan Iqbal, unlike the budget proposed by Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan, has allocated Rs 45 billion against Rs 35 billion proposed by HEC, saying that the country needed more funds to promote education and research activities. He said that the government has increased the budget for education by over 132 percent during the past four years. Meanwhile,

Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal approved allocation of Rs 45 billion for the development budget of Higher Education Commission (HEC) under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2018-19. The HEC has recommended allocating Rs 35 billion for the upcoming Oiscal year but the minister gave additional ten billion to prepare doable projects to ensure more competitive higher education based on modern techniques and technology.

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KARACHI

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mugglers are working hand in glove with Karachi East Collectorate R&D Principal Appraiser Dost Muhammad to smuggle goods like hazardous chemicals, betel nuts, high value and banned items. They are removing these goods through TP from Karachi East Collectorate, without any checking, with the help of Dost Muhammad, Incharge R&D Department.

TP means Transshipment Permit and it is used in smuggling of banned items from the port because TP is not checked at Karachi port. Customs ofOicials put a seal at the door of the container as these goods would be checked at its destination like Lahore where the clearance would take place. Smugglers take the container Oirst to their own warehouse to remove the banned goods and then replace it with iron and steel scrap and close the walls of the container. From their godown they send the container to the Lahore dry port where goods are cleared smoothly as it contains iron and steel scrap as declared at Karachi east collectorate.

R&D department is responsible to keep a check on documents and data of green channel, yellow channel, red channel to avoid any unscrupulous activity through these channels. But Dost Muhammad does nothing to stop any wrongdoing through these channels.

Sources said despite having all the data available to Dost Muhammad where he can easily catch the fraud of TP goods still he knowingly is not catching them rather he is facilitating them. Sources said with available data, R&D Department can tell that a particular TP is fraud: 1. Port of loading can be matched with the

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Saturday, April 21, 2018

items. It is known that certain countries export certain items. Like Bulgaria exports copper raw and cable. If an unusual product is shown imported from a port of loading that does not generally export the particular item then that TP consignment can be checked.

2. To hide the actual port of loading most of the smugglers change the exporting country name

to ‘Jabel Ali’. This is called ‘switch B/L’. The goods are coming from a different location but the actual B/L is hidden by the smuggler and a new B/L is made by him and shown on record.

Most of the countries do not allow using their name as port of loading when in switch B/L. Only rare trading countries like ‘Jabel ALI’ allow such a mechanism of switch B/L. Also shipping companies are involved in it. They provide switch B/L facility speciOically to only those customers who inform them that the particular item is banned at the port of destination.

If a person wants to bring betel nuts from India, he will inform the shipping company that these betel nuts are banned in Pakistan and hence he wants to have a ‘switch B/L’. The shipping companies generally do not allow ‘switch B/L’ facility but with such request they provide the facility. Now the goods would be declared as ‘iron & steel scrap’ from ‘Jabel ALI’ and will be cleared in green channel or in TP. The B/L will

show that it has come from Jabel Ali. Even Jabel Ali authorities do not care and allow using their name as port of loading in the ‘switch B/L’.

But Dost Muhammad at R&D has full data and he can catch this fraud. He also has the container number with him on record.

Through this container number he can exactly track from where the container has started to move. He can track the container that it moved from India but the B/L and declaration is showing Jabel Ali. 3. The weight of container is shown in R&D data from where they can identify whether the goods shown can be true. Iron and steel weight is different from cloth weight.

4. Some heavy items cannot be transported in 40 feet container. The weight is more of these items while its size is less. These items are transported only in smaller containers like 20 feet containers. When the R&D data shows such list of items coming in 40 feet then they can hold them.

When smugglers get their banned/ smuggled items at Karachi east collectorate then they know that the data is available to Dost Muhammad at R&D division of the collectorate. How is it possible that the smugglers get their billions of rupees worth of goods to the port while they know that Dost Muhammad can catch their green channel and TP goods based on that data? This is not possible unless they are assured by the relevant customs staff like here Dost Muhammad to bring the goods without worry and that their goods would not be stopped and their data would be ignored by Dost. Without internal support of Customs staff the smugglers would never take the risk of billions of rupees worth of their goods. FBR and Customs high-ups must take prompt action to stop these illegal activities at Karachi East Collectorate.

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Founder & Chairman Zulfiqar Ali Editor Rahil Yasin editor@customsbulletin.com.pk For advertising & subscription marketing@customsbulletin.com.pk www.customsbulletin.com Phones: 042-35781643-4, Fax: 042-35781645 Address: 627, Siddiq Trade Centre, Gulberg, Lahore

eDitoRiAL

challenge of trade deficit

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he latest unofficial data puts the trade deficit of the country at record level of $30 billion during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year which is at least 42 percent more as compared to the deficit during the same period of the last financial year. Though exports have picked up during the last few months, but declined by three percent during the year to $18.5 billion. On another note, the import volume has gone up by 21 percent to $48.5 billion, pointing out a bitter fact that imports are over two-and-a-half times more than the exports. Unfortunately, Pakistan relies on the export of textile products most of the time without giving a second thought or importance to value added goods produced by various industries. The second most thrust is on the export of edibles such as rice, wheat, fruits, etc which are desperately required within the country. In a bid to enhance exports to earn foreign exchange, rebate is also offered to the exporters of food items, which shows deep seated flaws in the centers which devise export policies. Lack of interest of the government officials in the promotion of business also plays a role in the trade woes of the country. When the oil prices fell in the international market, it was hoped the country would benefit from the import of cheap oil, but the policymakers of this country are habitual in missing the bus. The world is shifting from hydro power electricity to renewable energy, including solar energy.

Pakistan has the potential to produce not only solar panels, but also voltaic cells to become volume leader in the international market.

Pakistan’s cottage industry also has strong base and can play a leading role in the economic development of Pakistan and enhancement of exports if encouragement by the government. However, every government agency is with a mission to foil every attempt to stimulate the industrial sector. The trade deficit can be minimized if agriculture sector is provided with concessions. Instead of exporting food items, agriculture industry should be encouraged to produce finish products. The new budget is due in weeks and it is a good opportunity for the government to put the country on the right track. The growing trade deficit eats up all the economic gains and the situation could only be improved by enhancing the export of value added goods.

Budget without cSf A

LAHORE

DR AftAB AfZAL

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ccording to newspaper reports, the government has decided to exclude the receipts of the US Coalition Support Fund from the federal budget for 2018-19, clearly pointing a fact that there is little chance of improvement in relations between Pakistan and the United States in the near future.

The Coalition Support Fund remained integral part of the budget estimates during the last 16 years, but the bilateral relations gradually deteriorated over the years due to unending war in Afghanistan. However, a tweet of US President Donald

Trump proved the last nail in the cofOin of the relations when he began his new year by launching an anti-Pakistan tirade. He accused Pakistan of providing nothing but ‘lies and deceit’ and that Washington had foolishly given Pakistan billions of dollars in aid over the last 15 years. He also accused Pakistan of giving ‘safe haven to the terrorists’ Oighting US forces in Afghanistan. According to the statistics compiled by US authorities, the total aid for reimbursements to Pakistan was $33.4 billion, including $14.573 billion which were sanctioned under the CSF. By excluding the $14.5 billion under the cost of logistics and aerial support, the

civilian and security aid granted to Pakistan from 2002 to 2016 was $18.8 billion. Against the grant of $33 billion, Pakistan incurred 50,000 citizens and over $100 billion monetary losses during the so-called war on terror. However, Pakistan is at the same situation as it was in 2002 when it decided to side with the United States. As a partner of the regional war, which had international repercussions, Pakistan not only incurred Oinancial but economic losses which will take years to recover. The economy suffered heavily during the years and in return, the country bagged nothing but diatribes, accusations and insults. This happened purely due to ill-

planned policies of the successive governments in the country.

The United States still uses Pakistani airspace, airports, and highways for logistic supplies to Afghanistan. Instead of extending a note of thanks, it is blaming Pakistan for its failures on the war fronts. It is the time the Pakistani policymakers should call spade a spade and tell the new US administration it means business. There is no need to take funds, but it is the right of Islamabad to charge the United States for using its land and air routes. The economy of Pakistan remained in dire strain and stronger trade relations are the answer to remove trust deOicit between the two countries.

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Bangladesh tenders for up to 1.52mln oil products Saturday April 21, 2018

World

DHAKA: Bangladesh Petroleum Corp (BPC) issued an international tender on Monday to import up to 1.52 million tonnes of refined oil products in the second half of 2018, officials said.

The state-owned company is seeking 1.1 million tonnes to 1.28 million tonnes of 500ppm sulphur gasoil, 100,000 tonnes of jet fuel and 120,000 to 140,000 tonnes of 180-cst high sulphur fuel oil.

The tender closes on April 11 and is valid for 75 days to June 24, 2018.BPC resumed issuing tenders for long-term contracts in February 2016 after a 15-year hiatus, during which it negotiated directly with suppliers of fuel products.

france forced to apologise to italy Bank of Jordan nets over migrant drug test controversy $64m in annual profits AMMAN

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PARIS

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f violating its borders and sovereignty after French border police ofOicers stormed a clinic on the Italian side of the border to test a migrant for drugs. “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding,” France’s Budget Minister Gérald Darmanin, who is also responsible for customs, said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

“It was an unfortunate incident, which arose over a misunderstanding between French customs and Italian railways about the use of a facility located at Bardonecchia railway station,” he continued. A diplomatic row erupted between Rome and Paris after armed French customs ofOicers entered a clinic run by the migrant charity Rainbow4Africa on Friday night to force a Nigerian

iraq exports hit infrastructure ceiling raq is being forced to limit its oil exports due to extensive delays in maintaining and upgrading outdated infrastructure in Basra. As the country tries to sustain near-record export levels, some pipelines simply cannot handle the pressure and have begun leaking. Iraq Oil Report has directly observed the resulting oil slicks in the Basra Gulf, which are also visible via satellite imagery.

Meawnhiel, Iraq, despite many security and economic problems, has witnessed major success in some aspects of its energy sector. Oil exports have risen from less than 1m barrels a day in 2003 to around 3.5m b/d at the end of 2017. The problem is that for most of this period, the overwhelming volumes of exports were through Basra in the south of the country. –CB Report

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migrant they’d arrested on drug smuggling charges on a Paris-bound train to undergo a urine test.

Meanwhile, Foreign investment in France rose 16 percent in 2017 to levels not seen for a decade as President Emmanuel Macron’s bid to attract money from abroad gains pace, a government report said. Public agency Business France said 1,298 foreign investment projects were announced last year, allowing some 33,500 jobs to

be saved or created. The Oigure is “the best in 10 years”, the report said, up from 1,117 last year. “This is the most concrete proof yet that France is back,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said as he presented the report. In a positive sign for Macron’s government, which sees boosting France’s attractiveness as an investment destination as a priority, 412 new companies decided to invest in France, accounting for a third of the projects.

Switzerland renewable energy policy market analysis and overview 2018

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he Renewable Energy Policy market report presents the competitive scenario of the major market players based on the sales revenue, customer demands, company proOile, the business tactics used in Renewable Energy Policy market which will help the emerging market segments in making vital business decisions.Renewable Energy Policy Market Report from Market Insights Reports cov-

ers market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional breakdowns, competitive landscape, market shares, trends and strategies for this market. The market characteristics section of the report deOines and explains the market.The market size section gives the electronic equipment market revenues, covering both the historic growth of the market and forecasting the future. –CB Report

ank of Jordan announced its annual proOits for 2017 reached JD 46 million (USD 64 million), an increase o %13 compared the previous year, bank ofOicials said. Total revenues reached about JD 127 million (USD 179) due to expansion in projects and improved investment climate, said bank ofOicials.

The revenues have jumped by nine percent compared to the previous year, said Shaker Fakhouri, general manager of the Amman based bank, one of the three largest banks in the kingdom. He said recent policies of the bank to focus on funding selected businesses have contributed to the positive results.

The Oinancial sector has been struggling in Jordan due to departure of major investors to more tax

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friendly countries, but the government has said it will carry out measures to assure investors of bright future, particularly related to investment security and income tax.

Meanwhile, Jordanian business representatives will travel in the near future to Syria on hope of reviving trade relations between the two countries after years blocked trade due to the closure of the border and raging civil war, businesspeople conOirmed. A delegation from Jordan Chamber of Industry, headed by president Adnan Abul Ragheb, will travel to Damascus to hold meetings with Syrian counterparts on prospects of cooperation, industrial sources told ANSA. The visit would be the Oirst of its kind since the war started in Syria in 2011 and the subsequent closure of the borders after rebels managed to seize control of Ramtha and Naseeb crossings in 2015. Jordan’s businesses have suffered greatly as a result of the closure of the borders, particularly that the kingdom used Syria as a direct market and a transit to for shipments to Turkey and Lebanon.

Bangladesh faces stiffest tariff in uS

angladesh pays the highest import duties out of all the 232 exporting nations to the US because of its substantial trade in apparel and footwear items that the US generally taxes highly.

Pew Research Centre, a Washington-based think-tank, analysed data from the US International Trade Commission and found that Bangladesh faces the highest import duties. “Nearly all Bangladeshi imports were subject to US duty and the tariffs on them were 15.2 percent of the total value of the country’s shipments to the US the highest such average rate among the 232 countries, territories and other juris-

dictions in the ITC database.”

Bangladesh exported about $5.7 billion worth of goods to the US last year, 95 percent of which were apparel, footwear, headgear and related items.

The average American tariff for knitwear or crocheted clothing is 18.7 percent and 15.8 percent for non-knitted clothing the two highest average rates out of 98 broad import categories.

Footwear is close behind with the average tariff rate of 11.9pc. Other countries with similar proOiles are Cambodia (duties equal to 14.1pc of the total value of imports from there), Sri Lanka (11.9 percent), Pakistan (8.9 percent) and Vietnam (7.2 pc). –CB Report

taiwan fishing vessel detained in indonesian waters

T TAIPEI

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aiwan registered Oishing vessel was stopped and detained by Indonesian authorities on suspicion of incorrect documents while traveling through the Strait of Malacca in the Southeast Asian country’s territorial waters.

The Da Wei No. 13, based in Donggang, Pingtung County, was detained and investigated by Indonesian authorities, the country’s customs officials said. Earlier, a staff member of a fishermen organization’s radio station based in Pingtung claimed that the vessel was intercepted by the Indonesian military. An official from a fishermen association in the

southern county also said that in recent months there have been reports of Taiwanese smuggling drugs into Indonesia, hence the Indonesian military have strengthened their efforts to check Taiwanese fishing vessels but would free them if no problem was found. However, in a CNA interview, Indonesian customs official Marsma said that the Tai-

wanese vessel was not intercepted by the military as the navy did not have information of this case.

According to an unnamed intermediary of the matter, the fishing boat is currently being investigated

by Indonesian customs officials on the grounds that the boat’s documents were in question and they wanted to know if the ship was carrying any illegal items.

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Faisalabad ASO impounds Toyota Crown car FAISALABAD: The Anti Smuggling Organisation (ASO) has impounded non customs paid Toyota Crown car worth Rs 2 million involving duty and taxes Rs 9.5 million officials sources said. The sources said that ASO impounded the Toyota Crown car near Charaghabad Jhang Road Faisalabad was seen coming from Faisalabad. They added that the ASO scout consisting of Superintendent Tanveer Raza Naqvi, Inspector Shah Nawaz and others stopped the car on the Jhang Road and demanded the documents from the owner of the vehicle Aziz ur Rehman.

Saturday, April 21, 2018

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customs earns Rs112m more revenue than allocated target during two weeks ISLAMABAD tARiQ DeRYA

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he Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Islamabad surpassed an earmarked proportional revenue collection target under all the heads with an extra amount of Rs112million during Oirst two weeks of April FY17-18.

According to details given by Ishfaque Khan, Additional Deputy Collector, Model Customs Collectorate Islamabad that, during above said duration, the Collectorate of Islamabad demonstrated a satisfactory performance. He notiOied CT that the MCC Islamabad earned Rs624.96million against an assigned proportional revenue target of Rs512million under all heads.

The collectorate achieved 22% revenue during said period against the allocated proportional revenue target. Ishfaque said that, during Oirst two weeks of April FY17-18, the MCC generated Rs173.42million of Customs Duty (CD) against an earmarked proportional revenue collection target of Rs247.18million while it did Rs292.05million as Sales Tax (ST) against an assigned revenue collection target of

Rs161.95million. The Additional Collector MCC Islamabad told the correspondent that, during Oirst two weeks of the current month, the collectorate earned Rs127.03million

under the head of Income Tax against an allocated revenue collection target of Rs95.31million whereas the Customs Collectorate Islamabad collected Rs32.47million

as Federal Excise Duty (FED) against an assigned revenue collection target of Rs7.79million. He said that the MCC Islamabad displayed 30% achievement of CD, 80% as ST,

33% under the head of IT and obtained 317% growth of FED against an earmarked proportional revenue collection target for Oirst two weeks of April FY17-18.

nAB to start probe against tariq fazal over embezzlement in edu dept ISLAMABAD

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aking notice over the alleged embezzlement in federal education departments, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal has ordered the anti-graft body to verify the complaints against the minister for Capital Administration and Development

Division (CADD). Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, who belongs to the ruling Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N), is accused of embezzling funds of Federal Directorate of Education, Special Education and Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) The NAB chief ordered the director general of Rawalpindi-bureau to complete veriOication of the complaints against minister, who is in ofOice since August 2017. Chaudhary has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since 2008.

He previously served as Minister

of State for Capital Administration and Development in third Sharif government from 2015 to 2017.

Meanwhile, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested four accused of embezzlement in

Published by M S Raza Off# 42, 3rd Flr Gull Plaza M.A Road Karachi, Printed by Dhoom Printing Building No RY/A, 11/6,11/7, Mashoor Mahal,off I.I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi

the Punjab Saaf Pani Company (PSPC). The arrested accused persons were identified as Nasir Qadir, Dr Zaheerul Din, Muhammad Saleem and Muhammad Masood Akhtar. The accused were involved in corruption of millions of rupees and substantial evidence has been have found against them, NAB said. Accused Nasir Qadir worked as a chief procurement officer in PSPC. Dr Zaheerul Din was appointed as chief technical officer of the project while Saleem Akhtar worked with the company as a procurement and contract specialist.