ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the chairman of Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), Ali Arshad Hakeem, to recover money from the accused in the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) missing containers’ case, DawnNews reported.

The case was heard by a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed.

Justice Gulzar Ahmed also ordered the FBR chief to personally submit a report on the recovery in two weeks’ time.

Until now, the FBR has managed to recover only Rs 5.06 million out of the total recoverable Rs 54.73 billion mentioned in a Jan 19, 2011 report by the Federal Tax Ombudsman Dr Shoaib Suddle due to the restrictions imposed by the pending lawsuits.

The recoverable amount of Rs 54.73 billion accumulated over last four years due to the irregularities in the collection of custom duties and taxes.

During the previous hearing on Feb 22, the bench had asked the FBR to submit a comprehensive report, including details of the duties and levies recovered.

According to the FBR’s counsel, those responsible for the losses, without informing the revenue department, had obtained a blanket stay order from the Sindh High Court, which restrained the FBR from collecting the recoverable amount.