Staff Correspondent

The government is determined to implement the separation of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) completely within December this year, a senior official said on Sunday.

“It’s already divided. We will implement it in full-fledged way by December this year. We will surely do that,” said the official of the Finance Ministry, wishing anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

He, however, said that the government will make some amendments in the ordinance before implementing it fully.

“A committee is working on the negotiations, and they will submit their report to us,” he said.

The government on June 29 has formed a five-member adviser-level committee to resolve the ongoing crisis centering its separation at the National Board of Revenue (NBR) led by Energy Adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan.

Other members include Housing and Public Works Adviser Adilur Rahman Khan, Labour and Employment Adviser Brigadier General (Retd) M Sakhawat Hussain, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan, and Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin.

“The committee has already held meetings with NBR officials who staged agitations since May 13 and the business community. They will submit their report, and after that we will induce the amendments,” the top official said.

He said there will be two divisions under the finance ministry, Revenue Policy Division and the Revenue Management Division.

“Both will be powerful, two separate secretaries will be appointed to make these two divisions powerful ones,” he said.

The officials and employees of the NBR, under the banner of the NBR Reform Unity Council, had begun their protests after the government issued an ordinance on May 12 dissolving the NBR and the Internal Resources Division, replacing them with the Revenue Policy Division and the Revenue Management Division, with scope to inject Admin Cadre officials in these two divisions.

They held a complete shutdown, march for NBR, work abstentions, hunger strikes, and human chains, disrupting services in tax, VAT and customs offices across the country.

The NBR Reform Unity Council held a series of protest programmes demanding structural reforms and the removal of the NBR chairman citing allegations of administrative irregularities, officer intimidation, and obstruction of pro-reform efforts.

On June 29, the NBR Reform Unity Council called off their complete shutdown programme after a fruitful negotiation by the business leaders of the country.

But, after that the NBR has been gripped by an uneasy situation as some of its top officials were sent into forced retirement and others put under the Anti-Corruption Commission’s (ACC) scanner allegedly for their involvement in the recent movement under the banner of the ‘NBR Reform Unity Council’.

The situation seemed to be normal as Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed asked the NBR officials to start their work “without fear and favour” and NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan requested all to work for the country “forgetting past disputes”.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) launched a probe against eleven senior officials of the NBR on charges of corruption, abuse of power and nepotism in facilitating illegal benefits for individuals and institutions over the past two decades.

Te officials under investigation are: AKM Badiul Alam, Member (Income Tax Policy); Mirza Ashiq Rana, Additional Tax Commissioner, Tax Zone-8, Dhaka; Mohammad Morshed Uddin Khan, Joint Tax Commissioner, BCS Tax Academy; Monalisa Shahreen Sushmita, Deputy Tax Commissioner, Tax Zone-16, Dhaka; Hasan Tarek Rikabdar, Additional Commissioner, Audit, Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, VAT, Dhaka; and Sadhan Kumar Kundu, Additional Commissioner, Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate, Dhaka (South).

Among them, Hasan Tarek serves as the president of the NBR Reform Unity Council and others joined the movement in different categories.

The other officials facing the probe are Abdul Rashid Miah, Additional Commissioner, Large Taxpayers Unit (VAT); Md Lutfur Azim, Member; Md Alamgir Hossain, former Additional Director General, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID); Md Shihabul Islam, Deputy Tax Commissioner, Tax Zone-16, Dhaka; and Md Tarek Hasan, Joint Commissioner.

That is not all. The government sent three NBR members, who were the top most officials of the cadre, into early retirement. According to the Internal Resources Division  website, all of them were sent to forced retirement for the sake of public interest.

They are-- Hossain Ahmed (customs policy and ICT), Md Alamgir Hossain and Md Abdur Rouf (VAT policy).

The IRD also sent Md. Sobbir Ahmed, (Commissoner of Taxes Zone- Barishal) and M Moinul Erfan (joint director general of Tax inspection directorate) into early retirement.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has suspended Commissioner (in-charge) of Chattogram Custom House Md Zakir Hossain for allegedly disobeying official instructions that resulted in disruption of trade activities and significant revenue losses.