Commissioner Md. Zakir Hossain has been suspended for keeping the Chittagong Custom House closed during the complete shutdown program demanding the removal of National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md. Abdur Rahman Khan. At the same time, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has launched an investigation against several other officials on corruption charges.
Md. Zakir Hossain was suspended in a notification issued by the Customs-2 branch of the Internal Resources Division of the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday night. The notification issued by the President's order was signed by the Secretary of the division Md. Abdur Rahman Khan.
The notification said that Chittagong Custom House Commissioner Md. Zakir Hossain was absent from work on June 28 and 29, disobeying the government's instructions. An order of the NBR dated June 18 ordered all revenue sector offices including customs, VAT and income tax to be kept open. But the closure of the Chittagong Custom House in violation of the instructions disrupted import-export activities and caused a major loss to the government's revenue collection.
He has been temporarily suspended as per Section 39(1) of the Government Services Act, 2018 and ordered to show cause within seven working days. A departmental investigation is also being initiated against the commissioner based on a review of the nature of the complaint, the degree of negligence in duty and the amount of financial loss.
For the past week, there have been work stoppages and programs in the VAT and Customs departments of the NBR. As a result, the country's revenue collection activities have practically come to a standstill. However, after the government gave a tough warning, the officials joined work from Tuesday (July 1).
