ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue claims to have collected Rs640.1 billion in the first five months (July-November) of the current financial year, but the data available with Dawn shows that the revenue collected during the period actually stands at Rs634 billion.

With last year's fudging of revenue figures still fresh in people's minds, the FBR has apparently tried again to fudge the collection figures by over Rs6 billion.

Similarly, the FBR announced a revenue collection of Rs131 billion in November this year, but informed sources said the actual figure was Rs126 bil-lion, against a target of Rs136 billion and Rs103.1 billion collected in the same month last year.

The sources said the fudged figures of revenue collection were also sent to the finance ministry and so far it had not raised any objection.

An official told Dawn that the FBR was trying to make up for the revenue shortfall, but there was no indication yet that the amount would actually be received, enabling the officials to reconcile the figures.

The FBR has not issued the final figures of revenue collection for October and November because it has failed to reconcile the data,according to the official.

The board is so far taking refuge behind high revenue growth recorded in July and August, but 'the carryover impact is almost over', the source said.

On June 30, the FBR was facing a shortfall of Rs44 billion but it did not report this the same day. After a passage of three weeks, it came up with various theories in an attempt to cover up the problem.

The finance committees of the National Assembly and the Senate, after conducting a probe into the issue, not only gave a clean chit to the FBR chairman and his team but also praised the performance of the tax machinery.