A top official during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government said the country would have economically collapsed had the Imran Khan-led regime completed its tenure.
The PTI's tenure was cut short in April 2022, when the government was ousted after Khan was removed as the prime minister through a no-confidence motion, paving the way for Shehbaz Sharif and allies to come into power.
One of the primary reasons behind ousting the Khan-led government was economic mismanagement and the increasing burden of inflation on the masses, as claimed by the incumbent rulers, who were then in the opposition.
"Had this [PTI] government continued, the party would not have even secured 5% votes as the country would have economically collapsed," former Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) chairman Shabbar Zaidi told Geo News' Shahzeb Khanzada on Friday.
The top tax collection body's ex-boss said he had advised Khan to rectify his government's shortcomings and "settle things, but he was not in the mood of listening [to anyone]".
Although Zaidi — whose stint as the federal tax collection authority's chief lasted from 2019 to 2020 — revealed that when he pointed out the economic crises Pakistan was headed towards during the PTI's tenure, Khan had removed Asad Umar as the finance minister.
The former FBR head also spoke about influentials forcing him to drop cases against people close to them or those who were politically "important".
The economist further said that he "mistakenly" sent a notice to a landowner in Multan. "I asked him to reconcile his wealth with his agricultural income."
In response, 40 parliamentarians "barged into my office", led by then-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, he said.
Zaidi said ex-lawmaker Sardar Nasrullah Khan Dreshak, during the meeting, told him that the people in his office were "MNAs from South Punjab, and the government cannot continue without them".
"I have seen a lot of governments [...] leave him [...] you're a kid now," Zaidi quoted Dareshak as telling him.
The ex-FBR chief went on to say that he tried bringing the tobacco industry people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the frontier regions into the tax net, but he faced strong opposition from then-NA speaker Asad Qaiser.
"You cannot do this ... you cannot enter our areas," Zaidi quoted Qaiser as saying.
Shabbar Zaidi claimed that about 4 to 4.5 tonnes of gold is smuggled into Pakistan annually. "Not even a single tola of gold is imported [in Pakistan]. Where does this gold come from?" he questioned.
"Jewellers had agreed to pay taxes but they cannot show the invoice of gold so how could they pay taxes?"
He said that the jewellers are using smuggled gold.
The former FBR chairman said that India curbed the smuggling of gold by relaxing import policies and ensuring implementation of them.
Zaidi said that he faced resistance from retailers when he tried to bring them under the tax net. "Retailers are a market mafia and when we take action against them, they go on a shutterdown strike."
He added: "None of our governments is powerful enough to fight with [retailers]. The tax system cannot be fixed unless you bring them under the tax net."
The traders in Karachi, he also said, had "thrashed" him. "They [retailers] said that no one in the market would pay tax."
The ex-FBR chairman added that the traders are not willing to involve in any kind of documentation.
Zaidi feared the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would place tough conditions for the next bailout programme in March 2024.
Responding to a question, the former FBR chief said: “Pakistan will not default until December 2023.” He, however, sees a “difficult situation” in the next year.
The IMF has yet not placed stringent conditions and added that Pakistan would be facing a tough time in securing the next IMF deal following the expiry of the current nine-month $3 billion stand-by deal.
“The major concern is that the fund is demanding [Pakistan] to raise funds from the market.”
To another query, the ex-FBR boss added that he already said that whoever would win the next elections “would be very unlucky from the economic point of view”.
He was of the view that the IMF programme saved the country from default but created very tough conditions for the masses. “All political parties are making tall claims but nobody is taking a look at Pakistan’s balance sheet.”
Zaidi also said former accountability aide Shahzad Akbar never directly asked him to lodge a case against anyone but he would show “files to then-prime minister Imran Khan”.
“I did open a single person's case in my entire tenure,” he said.
The former prime minister, he said, would discuss with him what Akbar told him about the alleged wrongdoing in tax-related matters. “I used to say sir leave this case.”
However, he clarified that the PTI chief never asked him to file a case against anyone. “He [former PM] would only say Shahzad Akbar brought the files, I used to say, ok sir, give me the file, I will see.”
He said filing a tax case involves a lot of technicalities.