The official spokesman of the FBR has clarified that reports circulating in various sections of the Press regarding discrepancies in the tax declarations of the parliamentarians are not released by FBR. Reports have recently surfaced in the Press wherein it has been claimed that the income and tax declared by various Parliamentarians were contradicted by the FBR. FBR’s official spokesman has clarified that these reports may have been individually worked out by various persons and as a source FBR has not been used in these reports.
The spokesman of the FBR clarified that during the Elections 2013 the FBR, along with SBP and NAB, was asked by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to verify the credentials of the contesting candidates. The FBR only shared information regarding the income declared and tax paid by the contesting candidates for the three immediately preceding tax years i.e. 2010, 2011 and 2012 on the format devised by the ECP. However, this information was posted by the ECP on its website. Subsequently, the ECP also posted the Nomination Papers of the contesting candidates on its website. The reports circulating in the press are probably based on the analysis of the above information which has been taken from the website of the ECP.
The official spokesman further clarified that FBR has placed stringent security checks on the data available on its database due to which there is virtually no possibility of leakage of information. It has therefore been categorically pointed out that no leakage of official data/information available in the FBR database has taken place and the data given in the reports circulating in the press was in all likelihood based on information available on ECP website.
Shahid Hussain Asad
Official Spokesman