ISLAMABAD: The intelligence and investigation wing of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has unearthed a tax evasion scam of billions of rupees in Lahore.
Sources informed this scribe said that FBR I&I-IR Lahore has confiscated documents as well as goods of a blacklisted company named Farwal Cosmetics, which was operating in Lahore and Multan. The company’s owner, Zaka Ud Din Shiekh, was running units in the above-mentioned cities through his frontmen Sajid Khilji, Nadeem Mirza, Ali Shaukat and Waseem Rabbani, without paying any sales tax, sources added.
Sources further said that FBR had declared the company a sales tax defaulter in 2016 as it was not paying the sales tax. The tax department had directed them to pay Rs113 million in taxes after fulfilling all the legal and codal formalities but instead of following the legal process, they resumed their operations. Therefore, the tax officials conducted another raid and confiscated the cosmetic products from two units in Multan Road and Johar Town and sealed the sites.
In addition to this, FBR has also asked the Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO) director general to halt the process of registering the company’s trademark as well as copyrights till the tax evasion case is resolved.
Shiekh was earlier arrested by the department on the charges of tax evasion. He approached the court for a stay order but his request was turned down.
It is worth mentioning here the I&I-IR under the supervision of Dr Bashir Ullah has increased their working against the non-registered businesses and in recent months, they have unearthed a number of scams in different cities of Pakistan.
Wonderful news.