Delay in formation of interim set up upsets custom officers
Staff Report
An indecision and disagreement among leading political parties on the name of interim prime minister and the ensuing likely delay in the formation of interim government has reportedly upset the custom officers under the federal board of revenue.
Sources said that sale purchase of lucrative postings in custom department had become a recognized culture in the custom service of Pakistan. The last two member custom operations particularly nurtured this culture and took maladministration and corrupt practices to their extreme.
Sources revealed that it were reportedly the massive amounts of posting money paid by the three collectors of Karachi that prompted a large scale massive corruption at Karachi as the collectors beleaguered in uncertainty of their tenure could shorten their pay back periods only by promoting large scale smuggling and protecting the smugglers in return for extorting tens of crores of rupees every month.
The current incumbent of the office of member custom operations has added to her vulnerabilities in the short period of time since her posting at the top customs slot as she began drawing close to her a group of faithfuls and reportedly entrusted to them the posting of those faithfuls’ friend and cronies at top money making positions in Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.
This strong infrastructure for favouritism laid down in FBR under the current member custom operations has sent across the custom service a wave of worry and has made them look eagerly towards formation of the interim government.
Sources said that two hidden markets worked secretly for the sale purchase of the postings of custom officers.
First, those having strong internal departmental connections and having been fortunate to work in junior grades under and share bribe money with those who now sit at the helm of affairs in FBR purchase their postings from the internal market.
Sources disclosed that those custom officers having no internal connections resorted to the external posting transfer market in which they paid heavy amounts to the intermediaries available in every major city who receive bribe money and secure the correspondingly lucrative positions without disclosing their connections through whom these intermediaries work.
After witnessing the firm and sound infrastructure of cronies presently laid down under the current member custom operations in FBR to extort massive amounts of bribe money as a quid pro quo for distributing huge money making postings in the upcoming posting transfer order, the custom officers for whom the internal market is inaccessible are greatly upset as the intermediaries of the external market have told them to wait for the formation of interim government.
Sources disclosed that a major part of corruption in the custom department and the resultant economy killing smuggling and huge revenue losses worth billions of rupees can be so easily averted by the interim government if it asks the chairman FBR to make a transparent and justifiable posting transfer policy first and make posting transfer orders in FBR later on the basis of such policy which is presently did not exist leaving abuse of member custom operations discretion unchecked.
