ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: The Federal Tax Ombudsman, Justice Saleem Akhtar (retired), has asked the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) to direct the collector of sales tax, Karachi, to carry out verification and audit of a firm.

The ombudsman said the record of a Karachi-based private firm should be verified. If any contention is found, action should be taken for deletion of their name from the list of suspected unit, the FTO order said.

The firm had filed a complaint with the FTO against the allegedly arbitrary manner in which its name was included in the list of suspected units without the process of law.

The complainant stated that it received a letter dated March 3, 2003 from the deputy collector of sales tax, Revenue Analysis Cell, requiring them, under Section 26 of the Sales Tax Act, to produce sales tax records for October 2003 to January 2003 within a week.

Though the firm submitted its records on May 7, 2003, it received another letter from the deputy collector, sales tax, their name had been recommended to the CBR to be included in the suspected list.