ISLAMABAD - The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday refused to provide tax record of Sharif family that was presented to the joint investigation team (JIT), in the parliamentary committee.

The FBR Chairman, Tariq Pasha, informed the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue that he could not violate the law by giving tax record of any person.

The FBR cannot provide tax record of any person as according to Section 216 of the income tax.

Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue Chairman Senator Saleem Mandviwalla last week had sought the tax record of the Sharif family, which was presented in the JIT that probed Panama Papers case.

However, the FBR has refused to provide the tax details of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family.

Mandviwalla expressed displeasure over not providing tax record to a parliamentary committee.

He said that the committee could explore other options to get the tax record of the Sharif family.

“When FBR can present the record in JIT then why it is not presenting it in the parliament,” the committee chairman asked?

He alleged that the FBR had also tampered the tax record.

Senator Kamil Ali Agha of the PML-Q also supported Mandviwalla’s viewpoint.

“It is the right of the parliament to seek information from any government’s institution,” he said, and added that state-run institutions could not refuse to provide information to the parliament as per the law.

Speaking on the occasion, Senator Azam Swati of the PTI said that the parliament could seek any record as it was the supreme institution.

He also alleged that some of the FBR officials had tampered the tax record of the Sharif family.

Swati claimed that he had the proof of tax record tampering.

However, senators belonging to the PML-N and the ANP opposed the committee’s demand of presenting tax record of Sharif family in the committee meeting.

Senator Saleem Mandviwalla and Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan exchange hot words on the issue.

Mushahid Ullah Khan said that the opposition was playing politics on this issue.

“If you are asking for presenting tax record, which was presented in JIT, then I will seek your tax record,” PML-N Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan said, while responding to committee chairman.

He further said that it was not the mandate of the committee to discuss tax matters of the JIT.

Senator Ilyas Bilour also supported the PML-N senator’s point of view.

“The matter is in [the] Supreme Court of Pakistan and we should wait for the apex court’s decision,” Bilour said.

The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue also discussed the collection and utilisation of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC).

The officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources informed the committee that the government had collected Rs250 billion under the GIDC.

They informed the body that the government had imposed this tax for Iran-Pakistan Gas pipeline and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline.

However, the government had not started the Iran-Pakistan Gas pipeline project due to the international sanctions on Tehran, they added.

The committee members expressed concerns over the collection of huge amount under the GIDC when Iran-Pakistan Gas pipeline and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline had not started yet.

The committee members noted that why the government is collecting GIDC amount when IP and TAPI projects had not started.

The government could not use the GIDC amount in other heads.

Later, the committee sought detailed report from the government over the GIDC amount.