KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) decision to revoke the clause that made it mandatory to warn defaulters 24 hours before freezing their bank accounts would open up a floodgate of corruption, Karachi Chamber of Comm­erce and Industry (KCCI) President Muha­mmad Idrees said on Tuesday.

He appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan and Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin to restrain the FBR from taking this anti-business action which would prove counterproductive to all the efforts being made by the government for ease of doing business.

At a time when business confidence had just started to revive, the FBR backtracked all the measures taken towards creating a favourable business environment, he said. “In a major blow to the business and industrial community, the FBR has withdrawn the over two-year old instructions that had been issued to bar taxmen from taking money without prior intimation to the account holders.”

He condemned this move based on the fact that this notification was issued after a very detailed deliberation with former FBR chairman Shabbar Zaidi.

Referring to the last meeting of a KCCI delegation with the finance minister in Islamabad, which was also attended by Energy Minister Hammad Azhar, PM’s adviser on commerce Razzak Dawood and FBR Chairman Dr Muhammad Ashfaq, Mr Idrees said the lawmakers had assured the business community of fully facilitating and simplifying taxation laws.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2021