ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) Chairman, M. Abdullah Yousuf, has warned officials of the board to shun corruption otherwise action would be taken against them.

Well-placed sources told Dawn on Thursday that the warning came at a meeting held recently to bid farewell to Second Secretary Habibur Rehman. The chairman told the participants that he had received information from different quarters about corruption of some of the senior, junior officials and supportive staff who allegedly received money from the taxpayers for processing their files.

Mr Yousuf said it was strange that earlier allegations of corruption were reported against field officers, but now the taxpayers complained about the officials posted at the CBR headquarters.

He suggested that at the first instance corruption would be reduced following the automation of the CBR aimed to provide the organization with a paperless environment.

With this, he said, those adopting delaying tactics in disposal of official cases would be held accountable. He said most allegations were related to the issuance of customs rebate to the taxpayers.

The Shahid Hussain report has categorized corruption in tax administration in Pakistan into four heads: policy manipulation, collusion, extortion and speedy money. The report says that under policy manipulation, the tax officials issued SROs to favour a single industry at the cost of others.

According to the report, most income and customs levies were said to be determined with prior consultation between the two parties concerned. In customs, collusion takes place in mis declaration of items imported, their quantities and values.