KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has reportedly suspended investigations against four shell companies used to launder Rs 16 billion by influential builders, businessmen, and politicians from major cities.
According to the sources, the Central Vigilance Wing of the FBR has uncovered a massive money laundering and tax fraud racket involving four private limited companies registered under fake identities at a single address in Karachi.
As per FBR investigations, the four shell companies were set up to benefit a powerful former parliamentarian from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who owns a large business conglomerate.
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Shockingly, all four companies shared the same registered address in Karachi but these companies were illegally registered in the FBR’s Corporate Tax Office in Islamabad, indicating the complicity of certain IT officials and tax officers, sources informed.
Furthermore, sources said that the companies had hired low-income employees as dummy directors. But they dealt in metal and battery products and attracted investments from builders, businessmen, and politicians from Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, and KP who used these companies to launder black money.
The FBR investigations found these four companies had opened multiple bank accounts and routed Rs 16 billion in funds through them for whitening unaccounted cash. They also issued fake invoices worth Rs 10 billion without paying due taxes, sources added.
The companies made transactions with unrelated parties outside their domain of business. The money was later rerouted to the original investors after layering through various accounts, which the sources termed a serious violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010.
Though the FBR has blacklisted these companies, no FIR has been registered against them by the CTO Islamabad, which the sources termed as an eyewash to halt the investigations due to high political pressure, sources confirmed.
Senior FBR officials on a condition of anonymity admitted investigations were halted due to intense political pressure. They agreed these companies shared a Karachi address but were illegally registered in Islamabad due to pressure from the ex-minister from KP to facilitate money laundering.
They said these four shell companies were used to launder Rs 16 billion black money owned by builders, businessmen, and politicians from Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, and KP.
Tax experts said this discriminatory treatment showed FBR’s measures were only for the weak while the powerful enjoyed absolute liberty in illegal acts, denting the economy and FBR’s reputation. They sought the intervention of other agencies to take the powerful quarters to task.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024