ISLAMABAD, March 7: Two weeks ago, the capital's Excise and Taxation Office began issuing computerised transfer letters for vehicles, replacing the previous system of transfers by affidavits or ordinary papers.

The new procedure is intended to help make vehicle transfers more transparent, and is also part of an effort to combat crimes including theft, smuggling and terrorism. Requesting anonymity, a senior official of the ETO told Dawn that the Islamabad Deputy Commissioner approved the new procedure two weeks ago. The computerised transfer letters, bearing security features against duplication, will be issued to vehicle owners and attached to registration books.

If the letters are lost, consumers will have to file a complaint and bring an FIR from the police station to the ETO in order to obtain a duplicate.

Reporting that over 300,000 vehicles are registered with the city's ETO, the officer claimed that consumers have begun the process of receiving their computerised letters. Those who purchased used vehicles have until May 1 to get their new letters, after which date all earlier transfer letters - those made through affidavits or on plain papers - will be cancelled, and “second buyers” will have to bring the original owner to the ETO.

The new procedure is in part in response to requests from the police to make vehicle transfers more transparent, in order to help investigators trace vehicle owners in criminal or terrorism cases. Previously, vehicles linked to crimes were found to be registered in the name of their original owners, and the ETO had no record of their purchasers.

Computerised transfer letters may help streamline purchasing procedures. Previously, when a vehicle was transferred, the owner and the purchaser simply signed an agreement, which was then submitted to the ETO, though the office could neither verify nor monitor the procedure.

Since original owners were reluctant to come to the office to complete transfers, the ETO asked that buyers to bring transfer letters attested by a gazetted officer.

Numerous buyers, however, managed to subvert the requirements, and the purchase of second-hand vehicles was linked to fraud by both purchasers using fake transfer letters, and sellers who blocked ETO files in order to keep their vehicles.

The ETO official reported that the office was notified of around 10 such cases each month.