THE recently-imposed restriction on FIA officials not to collect any information about taxpayers’ cases directly from the FBR’s field officers is against the spirit of Article 19-A, which says that every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance.

The restriction is against the wider benefit of the country, as well as against the Constitution. The FIA is a multi-faceted agency that has jurisdiction over matters important to the international community like immigration, anti-human trafficking, protection of intellectual property rights, cyber crime and money laundering.

At the same time it is the lead agency for investigation of important cases of terrorism and terrorist financing. But, under this imposition, the FBR has placed specific standard operating procedures with the FIA for sharing information on the basis of which the FIA will have to get any information after orders of the courts and not directly.

This restriction will affect the functioning of this institution. To enhance the beneficial functioning of its federal and provincial institutions, the government should give the FIA more reasonable powers and must lift this curb to enable it to conduct its investigation more freely and effectively.

M. Yasir Kayani

Kasur

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2015

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