Lahore: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) has strongly opposes the recent move of The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of restoring the powers of the tax officials to freeze the bank accounts for the recovery of taxes.

In a statement on Tuesday, LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir said that now tax officials were not legally bound to take prior approval of the Chairman FBR and give 24-hour prior intimation to the CEO/principal officer/owner of companies before freezing the Bank Accounts.

He said that this step was against spirit of creating a business friendly environment in the country, according to the vision of our honorable Prime Minister.

The LCCI president said that this step would give undue exorbitant powers to the Tax Officials under Section 140 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 and Section 48 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990. It would also result in the undue harassment of business community and discourage new entrepreneurs to come into the tax net