Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Rs33bn tax evaded in 2010-11

http://dawn.com/2012/06/19/rs33bn-tax-evaded-in-2010-11/


ISLAMABAD: While the government is struggling to reduce the spiralling budget deficit, auditors have unearthed tax evasion and irregularities of more than Rs33 billion in 9,632 cases in 2010-11.

As a result of these irregularities and tax evasion, the FBR had failed to achieve the revenue collection target of Rs1,588 billion for the year.

The shortfall in the revenue collection that the tax machinery had reported in the audit year 2010-11 was over Rs35 billion, which was almost the same amount detected by the auditors. If the FBR officials had plugged in the tax evasion, the revenue target for 2010-11 could be achieved.

Taking clue from this, the FBR is facing a similar revenue shortfall in the outgoing fiscal year as well.

Tax experts say the dodging of such a huge amount is not possible without the connivance of FBR officials.

They believe that officials tasked with generating revenue have instead aided a large number of people to evade duty and taxes by allowing use of non-assessment and short-assessment.

Besides delay in adjudication proceedings, non-recovery of adjudged revenue and inadmissible tax adjustment have been allowed there to get away with evasion.

The office of the Auditor General of Pakistan in its audit report for the year 2011-12 for FBR taxes has unearthed irregularities of Rs33.202 billion. The bulk of tax evasion was recorded in the customs department.

This amount includes Rs4.185 billion audit observation in respect of inadmissible exemption/concessions in customs duties in 1,906 cases in the year 2010-11.

An amount of Rs 9.387 billion was detected because of non-disposal of confiscated goods/vehicles in 3,089 cases.

The report for the year 2011-12 unearthed an irregularities of an amount of Rs14.490 billion because of procedural and financial irregularities in audit of focused areas — bank guarantee, indemnity bonds, bonded warehouses and e-customs.

At the same time, an amount of Rs2.652 billion non/short realisation of advance tax on imports was observed in 3,374 cases.

The audit report shows inadmissible payment of rebate in 81 cases to the tune of Rs242 million; non-realisation of government revenue of Rs554 million in 188 cases due to non-encashment of bank guarantees/post-dated cheques; a revenue loss of Rs134 million because of short realisation of revenue due to under valuation of imported goods.

The report also shows the non-realisation of government revenue on failure to submit re-warehousing certificate to the tune of Rs3.074 billion in 2010-11. Another amount of Rs447 million has been detected to have not been realized on import, export without analysis certificate in 83 cases.It was observed that an amount of Rs142 million revenue loss occurred to exchequer due to un-lawful permission to avail the facility of two manufacturing bond licenses; irregularities of an amount of Rs802 million in six customs offices detected in advance collection/adjustments of customs duties; and non-realisation of surcharge in 43 cases to the tune of Rs29 million.

An mount of Rs116 million has not been collected in 65 cases of sales tax; an amount of Rs17.570 million loss to exchequer because of inadmissible exemption of sales tax to pharmaceutical manufacturers; Rs1.2 million because of un-authorised expenditure on account of POL in excess of ceiling.
The report also points out that Rs2.3 million because of non-short deposit of income tax in government exchequer by eight tax offices.

MPs to get 100pc hike in travel expenses from July 1

http://images.thenews.com.pk/19-06-2012/ethenews/t-15474.htm

Tuesday, June 19, 2012



ISLAMABAD: Through the Finance Bill 2012 passed by the National Assembly in a historic haste and likely to be enacted this week with the signatures of the president, the amount of annual travel vouchers for a parliamentarian will be increased by 100 percent from Rs150,000 to Rs300,000 effective from July 1, 2012.


According to the parliamentary sources, the parliamentarians, as a bonus of the protest by the opposition during first, second and third reading of the budget, passed an amendment to the Finance Bill 2012, which has provided them extra monetary benefit. With this amendment, the TA/DA to each member will be allowed even the respective house is summoned again after three days of its adjournment.


The existing law permitted them second TA/DA only when the president reconvened the house after adjournment for seven days. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the notification regarding the provision of lifelong security to all former presidents, prime ministers as well as all former speakers of National Assembly and chairpersons of Senate would be issued shortly.

Memo report says Haqqani feared arrest in US

http://images.thenews.com.pk/19-06-2012/ethenews/t-15468.htm
Tuesday, June 19, 2012



ISLAMABAD: The Memogate Commission report has made a stunning revelation, which has gone unnoticed so far, wherein it states that former ambassador Husain Haqqani “may have feared to be prosecuted, arrested and convicted in America, diplomatic immunity notwithstanding.”


This opinion of the commission is contained on Page 89 of its report and concerns the secret fund given to the Pakistan Embassy in Washington.The three respected members of the commission wrote: “Mr. Haqqani’s failure to disclose any payment [utilisation of the SSF (Secret Service Fund)] was telling.



During his tenure as ambassador to USA, he received US$2 million [$2,000,000] annually four times, i.e. a total of US$ 8 million [$8,000,000], but refused to submit any information with regard to the utilisation thereof for the reason (according to him [Haqqani]) that the SSF rules did not permit disclosure and because: ‘they [secret funds] are also used for payments that involve circumvention of strict US laws...”


This admission that these funds are used in violation of US laws is the key fact which can trigger an intense investigation by the US authorities and could lead to questioning and probe of Haqqani, as he no longer enjoys diplomatic immunity, a known lawyer who knows the US system told The News on condition of not giving his name.


The report also quoted Haqqani telling the Commission in the same context: “The commission may be familiar with the case of Kashmir American Council (KAC) official Ghulam Nabi Fai, who has been imprisoned in the US for accepting secret funds from the ISI. Any revelation ... would have similar adverse implications...”


FBI arrested Fai for receiving funds allegedly from ISI. He pleaded guilty in a US court and is now serving jail sentence.The report commented on the statements of Husain Haqqani in these words: ‘In other words Mr. Haqqani may have feared to be prosecuted, arrested and convicted in America, diplomatic immunity notwithstanding.”


The report also reveals that a lot more money was given to the Pakistan Embassy than had earlier been speculated. Eight million dollars is a huge amount, not given to any embassy of Pakistan anywhere.


The report also stated: “The grant of secret funds for the Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC was in apparent violation of Article 84 of the Constitution of Pakistan [that governs supplementary or excess grants such as SSF represented].”


The senior lawyer said such a big amount, more than double of what is involved in Dr Arsalan Chaudhry case, was not authorised by Parliament and a probe has to be carried out to determine who gave the go ahead for such huge funds to be dispersed secretly in America. He asked whether these funds were used to circumvent the US law Foreign Agent’s Registration Act, by making illegal payments to those who appeared independent on the surface but were being paid under the table? Did American politicians receive illegal donations from Pakistani-Americans who in turn were pocketing cash withdrawn surreptitiously in increments of just under $10,000 per withdrawal from the National Bank of Pakistan in Washington DC?

Britain stops Russian ship carrying attack helicopters for Syria

By Richard Spencer, Adrian Blomfield and David Millward
8:34PM BST 18 Jun 2012




The British marine insurer Standard Club said it had withdrawn cover from all the ships owned by Femco, a Russian cargo line, including the MV Alaed.

"We were made aware of the allegations that the Alaed was carrying munitions destined for Syria," the company said in a statement. "We have already informed the ship owner that their insurance cover ceased automatically in view of the nature of the voyage."

British security officials confirmed they had told Standard Club that providing insurance to the shipment was likely to be a breach of European Union sanctions against the Syrian regime.

They said they were continuing to monitor the ship, which has been the subject of a fierce international row since US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week revealed it was adding to the arsenal of weaponry available for Mr Assad to use against rebellious Syrian towns.

"We have various ways of keeping track of this ship and that is what we are doing," a source told The Daily Telegraph.

The MV Alaed picked up its cargo of Mi25 helicopters – known as "flying tanks" – from the Russian port of Kaliningrad, where they had been sent to the state-owned manufacturer Mil's "Factory 150" for servicing and repairs.

They were originally sold to the Syrian government by Moscow, its major arms supplier, at the end of the Soviet era.

The ship headed south through the North Sea towards the English Channel on its way to the Mediterranean and, most likely, the Syrian port of Tartous, also home to a Russian naval base.

But under sanctions announced last year, the EU has banned not only exporting arms to Syria but also providing related services such as insurance.

As first revealed by The Sunday Telegraph at the weekend, the US notified the UK government that the insurance was British last week.

As it neared the Dutch coast, the authorities there also hailed the ship, the security sources said, and it made an abrupt turn, heading towards Scotland. It was last night now off the coast of the Hebrides but with no insurance covering the ship security sources say it may now have to return to port.

In their attempts to bombard rebel towns into submission, Assad regime forces have increasingly brought up helicopters, strafing the towns of Haffa and Rastan last week.

Their use, condemned by Kofi Annan, the UN peace envoy, has not stopped Russia's continued insistence on providing arms to the Syrians. Moscow is continuing with a 2007 contract to provide more than 20 MiG-29 M2 fighter aircraft, according to the Americans.

Russia also announced it was preparing to send an elite unit of marines to Tartous, a move which a Western defence source said was intended as a powerful signal that Russia would not tolerate foreign military intervention.

Classified US satellite images last week indicated that loading work had begun on two amphibious landing vessels, the Nikolai Filchenkov and the Caesar Kunikov, at the Crimean naval base of Sebastopol.

A Russian officer quoted by the Interfax news agency said they would carry marines charged with protecting the security of Russian citizens and evacuating a part of the base, marking the first time Moscow has sent troops to Syria since the uprising against Mr Assad began more than 15 months ago.

If fully loaded, the two vessels could carry as many as 600 troops and 24 tanks.

Russia's Nezavisimaya Gazeta, citing anonymous military sources, suggested that the soldiers would be drawn from the elite Pskov airborne brigades and special forces units stationed in Chechnya.

Russia was particularly unnerved after William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, and other Western officials compared the slaughter in Syria to the civil war in Bosnia in the 1990s, the Western defence source said.

They believed the comparisons amounted to a coded signal that the West was preparing to authorise a Nato mission to Syria similar to the peacekeeping operation mounted in Bosnia and later in Kosovo.

But the deployment also signalled that Russia was hedging its bets, according to the source.

"The purpose is threefold," he said. "First, they want to send a signal to the West about military intervention. Second, they want to demonstrate support for Assad.

"But they are also preparing for the worst and realise that the worsening situation may leave them no choice but to evacuate their nationals as a last resort. If that happens, it is game over for the Russians.

"They project strength, but know their position in Syria is actually a weak one. It may be this is a last throw of the dice."

At a meeting on the sides of the G20 summit in Mexico, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, agreed a political process was needed to "stop the bloodshed in Syria", according to a joint statement.

Global weight gain more damaging than population growth

Agencies : London, Tue Jun 19 2012, 11:01 hrs




Increasing levels of fatness around the world could have the same impact on global resources as adding an extra billion people to the planet, say researchers.

The team from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated the total weight of people on the planet and found that North America had the highest average.

Although only 6 percent of the global population live there, it is responsible for more than a third of the obesity.

In their report, published in the journal BMC Public Health, the researchers calculated the weight of the global population at 287 million tonnes.

They estimated that 15 million tonnes of this mass is due to people being overweight, and 3.5 million tonnes due to obesity.

Using World Health Organization data from 2005, the scientists worked out that the average global body weight was 62kg (137lb). But there were huge regional differences. In North America, the average was 80.7kg (178lb), while in Asia it was 57.7kg (127lb).

While Asia accounts for 61percent of the global population, it only accounts for 13 percent of the weight of the world due to obesity.

“When people think about environmental sustainability, they immediately focus on population. Actually, when it comes down to it - it’s not how many mouths there are to feed, it’s how much flesh there is on the planet,” said Prof Ian Roberts, one of the authors of the paper.

The researchers argued that just focussing on obesity is divisive and unhelpful.

“One of the problems with definitions of obesity is that it fosters a ‘them and us’ ideal. Actually, we’re all getting fatter,” Prof Roberts told BBC News.

The scientists also compiled tables of the heaviest and lightest countries according to their estimates.

The US, with its well documented problems with weight, is top of the list. If the rest of the world were to emulate the Americans, Prof Roberts says, it would have dramatic implications for the planet.

“Japanese people have a low average BMI but high standards of living.

“If every country in the world had the same level of fatness that we see in the USA, in weight terms that would be like an extra billion people of world average body mass,” he explained.

While countries like Eritrea, Vietnam and Ethiopia are at the other end of the scale from the US, the researchers argue it is not sufficient to say that being skinny is just a factor of poverty. The researchers point to a country like Japan which, according to Professor Roberts, could be a model for others.

The Japanese example is quite strong. Average BMI (Body Mass Index) in USA in 2005 was 28.7. In Japan, it was 22. You can be lean without being really poor, and Japan seems to have pulled that off,” he sttaed.

Kuwait, Croatia, Qatar and Egypt are also listed among other countries in the top 10 most weighty.

Prof Roberts said that the high number of Arab countries is due to the impact of the automobile.

“One of the most important determinants of average body mass index is motor vehicle gas consumption per capita. So, it is no surprise to see many of the Arab countries in the list - people eat but they move very little because they drive everywhere,” he said.


Cash-for-bail scam: ACB grills suspended CBI Judge Pattabhirama Rao

Agencies : Hyderabad, Tue Jun 19 2012, 10:37 hrs





Anti-Corruption Bureau officials today questioned suspended CBI Judge T Pattabhirama Rao, accused of taking bribe to grant bail to former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy in the Obulapuram Mining Company case.

A team of ACB officials reached Rao's house here this morning and took him to their office, where his interrogation is underway.

ACB Director-General B Prasada Rao said, “He (Pattabhirama Rao) is being questioned by ACB officials.”

The ACB has already arrested retired Judge P V Chalapathi Rao and Pattabhirama Rao's son T Ravi Chandra in the cash-for-bail-scam.

Amid allegations of illegal gratification and corruption against Pattabhirama Rao, the Andhra Pradesh High Court suspended him on May 31 while transferring the case to ACB which registered a case against Pattabhirama and seven others including Chalapathi Rao and Janardhan Reddy's elder brother and Bellary city MLA Gali Somashekhar Reddy.

On a tip off that a deal was allegedly struck between Janardhan Reddy, the judge and others, the CBI had recovered cash of nearly Rs 1.60 crore from five lockers here, the keys of which were allegedly in possession of Pattabhirama's son Ravi Chandra.

CBI had also seized Rs 1.14 crore from the possession of T Balaji Rao, brother of Chalapathi Rao.

The CBI had earlier told ACB that Gali Janardhan Reddy's elder brother and Bellary city MLA Gali Somashekhar Reddy, G Dasaratha Ram Reddy, Suresh Babu, an advocate T Aditya and Chalapathi Rao and Pattabhirama Rao and others had allegedly entered into a conspiracy for showing official favour and granting bail to Janardhan Reddy and committed criminal conduct.

The CBI had handed over documents pertaining to the matter to ACB including mobile and land phone numbers allegedly used during finalisation of the alleged deal and duration of conversations

Sunday, 17 June 2012

Disrupting Life and Economy: The Maoist way

P. V. Ramana
May 31, 2012
http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/DisruptingLifeandEconomyTheMaoistway_pvramana_300512

Naxalites of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), or Maoists, have issued a call for a week-long protest in the Dandakaranya forests (Dandakaranya Special Zone Committee [DKSZC] area) beginning June 1, 2012 and a day-long general shut-down (chakka jam) on June 7.

In a statement signed by Gudsa Unsendi, spokesperson of the DKSZC, the rebels said that the protest week was meant to chiefly air two demands:
      (a) halt to Operation Green Hunt, which, the Union   Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) holds was never launched; and

        (b) wind-up the Indian Army’s training camp in Bastar and withdraw troops from there.

During the protest week the Maoists plan to hold public meetings, stage demonstrations, take out rallies and organise road blocks. It is not unusual for the Maoists to hold protest weeks/days. Every year, they have routinely been giving such calls on January 26 (Republic Day), August 15 (Independence Day), and December 6 (day of destruction of the Babri Masjid).

Moreover, they also mark some other days/weeks that are significant to their outfit. These include: International Women’s Day (March 8); Day of martyrdom of Bhagat Singh (March 23); International Lenin Day (April 22); Martyr’s memorial week and death anniversary of Charu Majumdar (July 28 to August 3); Founding Day (September 21); and PLGA founding week (December 2 to 8).

During an interview conducted in April 2009, a senior IPS officer from Bihar told this author that “The Maoists give bandh (general shut down) calls on these days and several violent incidents occur on these days. They also give similar calls on the arrest of their important cadres and attempt to damage public property.” Certainly, the destruction of public property is not limited to these days alone and happens the year round.

Railways, telephone exchanges and towers, school buildings, and forest roads and culverts have borne the brunt of the destruction campaign of the Maoists. As the following Table illustrates, during the past five years and four months, 207 school buildings have been blasted by the Maoists across the country, 590 forest roads and culverts have been blown-up and 228 telephone exchanges and towers destroyed. At the same time, railway property, including engines, wagons, tracks and stations have fallen victim to the Maoists’ mindless destruction on 208 occasions. Moreover, 76 Panchayat buildings have been blown-up by the rebels.
 
Table: Infrastructure Attacks by CPI (Maoist), 2007-2012
200720082009201020112012Total
Economic Targets85172418173
Railways47274654313208
Telephone Exchange/Tower64667455113228
Power Plants3123009
Mining66396030
Transmission poles/lines1024723046
Panchayat Buildings47233110176
School Buildings43257139272207
Forest Roads, Culverts, etc634112615814755590
Total190182362365293751467

Note: Data till April 24, 2012
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi
 
Chart: Maoists’ Infrastructure Attacks by Category, 2007-2012
Note: Data till April 24, 2012
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi

The destruction of each of these targets has certain significance and clearly demonstrates the Maoists’ sinister designs and their game-plan. This fits-in quite well with the ideology of the rebels and their ultimate objective of capturing/seizing state/political power through violence.

Panchayats are institutions of the state and represent democratic governance at the grassroots-level. The Maoists have avowedly held that parliamentary democracy is a sham and have consistently stayed away from participating in elections at all levels. By blasting Panchayat buildings (offices) the Maoists seem to be conveying the message that they are challenging Indian democracy and in its institutions.

Further, the Maoists have blasted telephone exchanges and destroyed telecommunication towers. The objective here seems to be to paralyse communications among security forces personnel and, thus, hinder their operations.

Surely, during the forthcoming protest week too, one would witness a certain degree of violence and destruction of public property. Moreover, during the chakka jam, normal life is hampered and commerce and mining activity are hit. In the past, for instance, during a similar general shut down in June 2009, in Jharkhand, the financial loss suffered was Rs. 140 crore.

Besides, when the Maoists blasted three High Tension towers in Narayanpur district of Bastar on May 31, 2007, “the total loss suffered in Bastar was Rs 2,500 crore,” as Giridhari Nayak, Additional Director General of Police, Chhattisgarh, told this author in an interview in July 2007. On that occasion, the National Mineral Development Corporation’s (NMDC) Bailadila mines—from where high quality iron ore is extracted for export and internal use—incurred a loss of Rs 9 crore per day. The resultant loss was nearly Rs 150 crore. Similarly, work in the privately owned Essar Steels, too, was hit resulting in a loss of Rs 1.5 crore per day. Further, iron ore supplies to Ispat and Visakhapatnam Steel Plant were also affected. That is not all. All industrial activities and an overwhelming part of commercial activities were severely affected, if not came to a grinding halt, in Bastar.

These repeated acts of targeting infrastructure speak of Maoist intentions: paralyse normal life, sabotage economic activity, dictate terms and allow life and economic activity only on their “terms and conditions.”

Thus, in future, too, infrastructure and several proposed big industries are vulnerable to potential Maoist attacks. At stake is a proposed investment of Rs 2,639 billion in a slew of steel plants and power projects in Chhattisgarh and Orissa.

Also, many vital and economic installations and railway assets across the country are equally vulnerable. The threat assumes greater significance in the wake of the Maoists having established a continuous string of presence across the country along both the north-south and east-west axes.

The Maoists have unambiguously articulated the objective their violent campaign: the destruction of the Indian state. Therefore, the Indian state needs to suitably fashion its response to comprehensively defeat the Maoist challenge.

Maoist Threat by Shoshaama