PRAL inflicts heavy losses to public exchequer
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PRAL accused of opening new avenues of tax evasion, false claimst
PEW demands a stable and foolproof system
The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Friday said Pakistan Revenue Automated System Limited (PRAL) developed for improving Sales Tax collection, has inflicted losses to the tune of tens of billions to the treasury since its inception in 1994.
It has already been reported that the system suffers from serious issues in risk management that has helped the unscrupulous elements to claim input credits of over Rs. 18 billion without any supporting invoices.
The faulty system of PRAL hasn’t contributed towards transparency or enhanced revenue collection. Rather it has opened new venues for tax evasion and false claims in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
“Even the semi-educated clerks can hack this system and use it for their personal interest,” said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.
Top officials are in practice of granting juicy contracts to PRAL without considering any legal requirements because FBR owns this information solution provider company.
“It is incredible that internal auditors, Auditor General of Pakistan and Public Accounts Committee have been ignoring these violations since long,” he added.
PRAL has introduced projects that are full of errors; its software remains ineffective as well as insecure while its hardware is seldom compatible. But, the FBR is strongly averse to idea of any third party inventory audit of PRAL, or any systems audit of any of the projects ever developed by this company.
In case of failure, something is blamed and a new project is designed which is approved in no time and heavy payments are made by FBR.
PRAL has become a white elephant for national exchequer; at the same time it is a blessing for baboos that have made a fortune by exploiting inbuilt weaknesses in the system.
Dr. Mughal said that it has evaded independent audit since its inception in 1994. The taxation system of country is in a shamble despite repeated claims of success since last fifteen years. FBR should accept its mistake and introduce another foolproof system with proper securities, he demanded.
