Day: December 5, 2021

Police have arrested six more main accused in connection with the Sialkot incident, while more raids are being carried out to arrest the remaining culprits.

According to a spokesman of Punjab Police, the accused were identified in the videos torturing the foreign citizen.

The spokesman said the main role of nineteen accused has come forth, amongst the total 124 accused persons arrested so far.

He said Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has directed to speed up legal action against the accused and probe the incident through the use of modern technology.

He said the Chief Minister and IG police Punjab are personally monitoring the whole investigation process and Chief Minister has assigned a task to Secretary Prosecution to prosecute the whole case.

Source: Radio Pakistan

The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Monday will discuss the billions of rupee valuation fraud committed at the Collectorate of Customs Appraisement, Quetta.

Sources told ProPakistani that the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue has directed the FBR to update the members on this matter.

It is pertinent to note that the Customs Intelligence and Investigation had unearthed this billion of rupee scam in which collectors of the Quetta Collectorate of Appraisement had reportedly been fixing very low and nominal advance assessable values of certain imported goods, including dry fruits and tiles for the last five to six years whereas the Directorate of Customs Valuation had already determined much higher values of the same goods.

Subsequently, Chairman FBR had constituted a four-member fact-finding committee comprising Director General (DG) Post Clearance Audit Seema Raza Bukhari, Collector Fayyaz Rasool Maken, Additional Director Khaldin-ul-Haq, and Deputy Director Fahad Bashir.

The fact-finding committee declared the appraiser as well as other lower staff of customs responsible for this billion rupee fraud however sources said that chairman FBR while issuing the displeasure letter to two inquiry members, directed the committee members to resubmit the report as they have not determined the role of high ups including the collectors in this valuation fraud.

Sources told ProPakistani that the fact-finding committee has now sought the valuation decisions done by the collectors from 2015 to 2021. Sources said that Customs Intelligence and Investigation has also submitted its reply with regard to the ongoing inquiry. They have a point of view that the law empowers the wing of customs to investigate the cases.

Reportedly, one accused collector in its reply to the fact-finding committee stated that the Customs Intelligence is not empowered to exercise the power of valuation under Section-25 of the Customs Act. “It would have been better if the Directorate of I&I had assessed the seized goods from the respective appraisement authorities instead of assessing the seized goods on their own,” he mentioned in his reply.

It is pertinent to mention that FBR had formulated an SRO in October with regard to Local Valuation Committee Rules under Section 25 A of the Customs Act, 1969 which is pending as the Customs department is waiting for comments from the collectorate on this matter.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) has announced the commencement of a 10 MMSCFD natural gas production unit, with effect from 1st December 2021, from Hilal-1 and Iqbal-1 discoveries in Mari gas field to Pakarab Fertilizers Limited (PFL).

Both of the discoveries were made during the same year (2020) in May and August, respectively.

The government has approved EWT production from both discoveries for a period of six months. The supply has commenced after the approval of the Cabinet. These additional gas volumes are a result of MPCL’s continuous and ongoing exploratory and development activities in its flagship Mari gas field located at Daharki, District Ghotki, Sindh.

This gas is being processed at the PFL facility and is being supplied through a ~24Km pipeline for transportation of Mari gas to the SNGPL network for onward transmission to PFL’s fertilizer plant under a third-party access arrangement.

It is estimated that the supply of this gas from the Mari field shall produce approximately 100,000 metric tons of incremental fertilizers per annum. This will help to not only reduce the fertilizer deficit in the country, but will also help in fulfilling national food security needs from indigenous resources, thereby lowering the requirement of expensive imported gas.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), on the intervention of the Federal Tax Ombudsman, has issued the exemption certificate in the case of M/s Roofline Pvt Ltd.

A handout issued by the FTO office stated that Roofline (Pvt) Limited, being manufacturers of Bituminous for the past seven years, had been facing difficulty in the issuance of exemption certificate U/s 148 of Income Tax Ordinance 2001, despite discharging their projected tax liability in full.

M/s Roofline (Pvt) Limited approached Dr. Asif Mahmood Jah, FTO for redressal of their grievance. The afore-mentioned product was previously imported, but the unit was established to produce the product locally and save much-needed foreign exchange in the country.

Since the value-added product has been widely accepted by the consumers and has successfully replaced the imported raw materials. It is pertinent to note that the high-quality membrane is commonly used for waterproofing.

Despite the utility of the product and investment by the manufacturers, the business was stuck-up due to a nonpayment exemption certificate and refund by the FBR due to procedural requirements. With the intervention of the Office of FTO and instructions thereon to the department the requisite exemption certificate was issued in the case of M/s Roofline Pvt Ltd.

The complainant has expressed gratitude for the quick proceedings by the Office of FTO as this would help a lot in stuck-up cash flows of the unit. The Office of FTO has initiated the process of prompt redressal under the FTO Ordinance for ease of doing business in the country and to facilitate the aggrieved taxpayers.

Source: Pro Pakistani