The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has been instructed by the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) to destroy or auction off any confiscated items, including cash, gold, silver, antiquities and precious stones, weapons and ammunition, alcohol and tobacco products, prohibited substances, and firearms.
According to the FBR’s stated reasons, 555 of the 3451 lots that are currently pending are being litigated in various legal and quasi-judicial forums. This information was obtained from the FBR statistics. There is a significant backlog at Customs State warehouses and port locations due to the frightening pendency of confiscated products awaiting destruction or lots being delayed in their disposal.
The Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance, 2000 (FTO Ordinance) granted jurisdiction under Section 9(1) to conduct an own motion investigation into large quantities of goods, including currency, gold, silver, precious stones, antiques, firearms and ammunition, fire crackers, narcotics, cigarettes, liquor, illegal drugs, acetic anhydride, medicines, chemicals, obscene films and literature, and other items that pose a risk to public health, the environment, or society and are stored in various Customs State Warehouses across the nation but are not disposed of.
While the Customs authorities are required to dispose of all such products expeditiously by the Customs General Order (CGO) 12/2002, dated 15.06.2002, the Customs authorities are not disposing of these commodities in accordance with the applicable laws and procedures, which has resulted in their stealing and substituting. In addition, the Customs officials are breaking the law and engaging in maladministration by failing to dispose of these products as required by law because of negligence, inattention, and inefficiency.
Given the foregoing, it is clear that the Customs Department, the Directorate General of L&I-Customs, and FBR are acting negligently and inefficiently, which amounts to maladministration, by failing to apply the aforementioned provisions of Customs laws, procedures, and CGOs. This is also causing needless delays in the disposal of confiscated goods.
The FTO has recommended that the FBR direct Member Customs (Ops) and the Director General of L&L Customs, FBR to begin processing the required directions and issue prompt directives to the concerned Collectors/Directors in order to fully eliminate this enormous backlog and dispose of or destroy such goods as appropriate, in accordance with applicable legal provisions, within a sixty-day period.
The FTO order further stated that FBR Member Legal (Customs), FBR shall promptly take action within 30 days to schedule early hearings that will result in decisions in cases pending before various judicial and quasi-judicial fora in order to accelerate the disposal of impounded items at various Collectorates/Directorates.
