FBR Targets 463 Importers in Rs14 Billion Tax Evasion Crackdown

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is taking legal action against 463 importers, 106 clearing agents, and several employees from Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) and Pakistan Single Window (PSW) for altering over 2,300 customs declarations, leading to about Rs14 billion in unpaid taxes, a news report says.

The scam, running since January 2020, was exposed by a former PRAL employee facing corruption charges who turned whistleblower. He pointed fingers at people who shifted from PRAL to PSW after the system changed in 2022.

According to the report, the group exploited flaws in the Web-Based One Customs (WeBOC) and PSW systems. They tampered with transshipment Goods Declarations (GDs) by changing product codes, amounts, and values to dodge duties, instead of properly converting them to Home Consumption GDs at dry ports as required.

Most of the fraud happened at dry ports, with Peshawar topping the list at 1,671 altered GDs, followed by Lahore with 522. Other cities like Sialkot, Islamabad, Quetta, Risalpur, and Multan were also hit.

The Customs Risk Management System (RMS) caught 99.2% of the tampered declarations, preventing a bigger loss. Only 19 declarations—mostly from big multinationals and manufacturers—slipped through the green channel unnoticed.

A quick audit of 60 random GDs showed declared duties dropping from Rs136 million to Rs99 million due to the tampering. But RMS inspections found Rs351 million owed, recovering an extra Rs251 million.

The FBR has told its Directorate General of Post Clearance to fully audit all affected declarations to figure out the total revenue loss. Officials say messing with the system breaks multiple rules under the Customs Act 1990.

The case shows weaknesses in the PSW system, which didn’t fix problems after taking over from PRAL in 2022. Instead of hiring new staff to tighten security, PSW kept many PRAL workers, letting the fraud carry on.

Sources say a detailed forensic audit of the whole system, going back to its start in 2015, is needed to spot all revenue leaks.