KARACHI, Jan 1: The Federal Board of Revenue has asked provincial excise departments to cancel registration of 96 diplomatic vehicles sold to private persons on bogus NOCs and other documents.

The directorate general of intelligence and investigation, FBR, is reported to have sent letters to the excise departments of all the provinces, Islamabad and Azad Kashmir informing them that the vehicles have been sold and registered on fake documents.

It has asked motor registration authorities to cancel registration of these vehicles, withhold transfer of their ownership and assist the FBR to impound them.

The excise departments have also been asked to re-verify from the customs authorities the sale permission certificates issued by the ministry of foreign affairs of all such vehicles sold by diplomats/privileged persons from 1-7-2004 to 30-6-2008.

The letter says that FBR’s directorate of intelligence is conducting an investigation into cases involving massive evasion of duty and taxes on sale of diplomatic vehicles against fake sale permission certificates and other bogus documents.

It said that investigations carried out so far indicate that 96 diplomatic vehicles have been sold to private persons and re-registered with various motor registering departments on the basis of fake sale permission certificates.

The investigation is continuing and the number of such cases may increase. Criminal proceedings against persons involved in the scam are under way.

Meanwhile, director general of Sindh Excise Asif Marghoub Siddiqui told Dawn that he had issued instructions to the MVR department to check if any of such vehicles had been registered in Sindh.

He, however, said that the Sindh MVR department would not register a diplomatic vehicle without an NOC from the local customs department confirming that the ministry of foreign affairs had given permission to the owner to sell his vehicles and that taxes and duty on the vehicle had been paid or the vehicle is exempted from taxes for being in diplomatic use for over five years.

Answering a question, Mr Asif Siddiqui said that it was too early to say whether any such vehicle had been registered in Karachi. However, the Sindh excise authorities would take necessary action as advised by the FBR, he said, adding that such vehicles were most likely to be registered with the MVR department in Islamabad, which houses most of the diplomatic missions.