ISLAMABAD
While exporters have accused Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of misusing the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) law, FBR has received at least 210 suspicious transactions reports (STRs) from Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) during the past one year.
During a meeting of Senate standing committee on finance, held on Thursday, FBR Intelligence and Investigation (IR) Director General Shahid Muhammad rejected the allegation of misusing the law, saying that his organisation has received over 200 STRs, and out of which only three cases were probed completely so far.
He claimed that in the 210 reports, 332 individuals were involved. Among those allegedly involved in money laundering, 227 were NTN holders, while the rest of 105 were non-NTN holders.
He informed that since August 2016, the directorate of intelligence and investigation has filed three references under section 21 of AML Act 2010, including a case at special court custom and taxation Karachi and another one at Lahore High Court. The third case was disposed of last year after the offense was compounded in the court of law and taxpayer paid liability worth Rs 6.204 billion to the national exchequer.
Member Inland Revenue of FBR Dr Muhammad Iqbal said that proceedings on AML start, as and when FBR receives a STR from the FMU. Investigations were underway in the 210 cases.
According to him, in the case of existing taxpayers, the bank statement/information provided by the FMU are thoroughly probed and reconciled with their declarations, and if found reconciled, the proceedings are dropped.
In case, the tax evasion found is of Rs 10 million or above, the predicate offence under AML Act is, prima facie, established and criminal proceedings are initiated. In rest of the cases, if declarations are not found reconciled, the reports are forwarded to the relevant RT0s/LTUs for further proceedings under the relevant laws. In the case of a non-NTN holder, the relevant RTOs are asked to enforce Income Tax returns and wealth statements, and further proceedings are conducted afterwards, he added.
Senator Kamil Ali Agha said that banks were harassing account holders of mere Rs 0.5 million and above in the name of money laundering or tax evasion. However, members of the committee decided to discuss the issue in next meeting.
FBR officials said that they ready to respond and address any specific case if the exporter shared with them instead of making a generalised complaint. They said FMU, which is represented by FBR, FIA, NAB, and other agencies only forwards cases related to tax and duties to FBR while other cases are sent to their relevant institutions for investigation. “Since we are trying to increase remittances we should definitely be worried about money going outside the country through illegal means,” they said.
While discussing another agenda item, Chairman of the committee Senator Saleem Mandviwalla showed his anger over reply from Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in which the commission had denied sharing details about Chaudhry Sugar Mills of Sharif Family, citing the reason that the documents of the mill were presently in the custody of FIA.
After discussion, the meeting decided to send another letter to SECP chairman asking him to produce documents before the committee. The committee also deferred all agenda items related to the ministry of finance on the request of the ministry till next meeting. The meeting was also attended by Senators Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, Muhammad Mohsin Aziz and others.
