The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has succeeded in winning the first-ever case of conviction for the offence of money laundering based on massive tax evasion.

According to details, the Directorate General I & I-IR had received financial intelligence in respect of an individual Habibullah proprietor of M/s Rai Trading Company, Bajaur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wherein it was disclosed that the quantum of transactions (cash & bank) did not match with the suspect’s business profile.

Initial investigations were conducted by the Directorate Intelligence & Investigation, Inland Revenue Service under tax laws which unearthed six other bank accounts with huge transactions. Total proceeds in all the bank accounts were found to be Rs. 2,090 million whereas the suspect paid tax of only Rs. 192,877 for the tax year-2015.

The suspect was involved in huge concealment of income, undeclared bank accounts and misdeclaration/inaccurate particulars to hoodwink the tax authorities. Detailed scrutiny also revealed an element of money laundering, therefore, investigations were initiated for the offence of money laundering under the Anti-Money Laundering Act-2010 (AMLA).

With the prior approval of the concerned court, bank accounts were provisionally attached under section 8 of the AMLA 2010. On completion of investigations under Section-9 of AMLA 2010, final challan under AMLA-2010 along with the complaint under Section- 203 of the Income Tax Ordinance (ITO), 2001 for the offence of money laundering and tax offence respectively were submitted in the court.

The prayers of the department before the court included punishment for both tax evasion and offence of money laundering and forfeiture of the proceeds. The trial proceedings concluded on 30th November 2021 resulting in the conviction of the accused under Section 4 of AMLA 2010 thus leading to two years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 0.5 million. In addition to this, the accused was also convicted under Section 192 -A of the ITO, 2001 with simple imprisonment of one year and a fine of Rs. 0.1 million. Furthermore, the court forfeited the proceeds of crime amounting to Rs. 2090.4 million.

Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance & Revenue Shaukat Tarin and Chairman FBR/Secretary Revenue Division Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed have commended the performance of Directorate of I & I-IR and congratulated them on this success.

This conviction is a great success of FBR in its ongoing drive against tax evasion and money laundering and will pave the way for more convictions. FBR has introduced a number of innovative interventions both at the policy and operational level to ensure a culture of tax compliance in the country.

Source: Pro Pakistani