Faceless customs system loses Rs100bn in three months

The Faceless Customs Assessment (FCA) system, inaugurated by the prime minister last year in Karachi to combat corruption, has incurred a revenue loss of about Rs100 billion in three months. This was revealed in a detailed analysis by the Pakistan Customs Audit — an internal arrangement of the Federal Board of Revenue — spanning December 16, 2024 to March 15, 2025. “The scrutiny of 13,140 goods declarations (GDs) led to detection of several discrepancies in 2,530 GDs that raise serious concerns about quality of assessments, indicating revenue and compliance risks,” said the 161-page report, which did not cover 100pc operations. Of the reviewed GDs, the audit looked into 18pc cleared through the green channel, 76pc through the red channel, and 6pc through the yellow channel, highlighting weaknesses of the system, inefficiency of the human resource, under/overinvoicing, as well as widespread trade-based money laundering.