30% of tobacco sector is undocumented, says ex-FBR chairman Shabbar Zaidi

Tobacco sector is the most undocumented sector of illegal trade in Pakistan, said former FBR chairman Shabbar Zaidi on Tuesday.

The ex-FBR chief was invited as a speaker on a webinar titled “Pakistan’s illegal/black economy and widening the tax net”. Other guest speakers on the show were Mehtab Haider, Senior Staff Reporter, The News and Ali Khizar, Head of Research at the Business Recorder.

“If you remember correctly, I brought a track and trace [system] which was abolished by the high court,” he said. “Tobacco is the largest sector [of illegal trade] followed by sugar,” he added.

Zaidi said that cement, motorcycles and other sectors, including tobacco, were largely undocumented. He said that there were several instances of fires erupting in IT offices of customs and the FBR offices. “I am serious, if we need to manage IT in FBR, then we should deploy Rangers outside the IT offices,” he said.