ISLAMABAD: An inquiry conducted by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has detected alleged money laundering and tax evasion to the tune of billions of rupees by a trading company — Vicky Trading Pvt. Ltd — purportedly linked to the Bahria Town, one of the country’s leading real estate developers.
According to documents available with Dawn, proceedings against the said trading company are underway at the special court of customs, taxation, and anti-smuggling under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010. The FBR report claimed that Vicky Trading Company operated 18 accounts in various banks across the country.
“The accused admitted in its reply…all 18 accounts are solely dependent upon Bahria Town…and in both companies, all the directors are family members… The report conveyed fund inflows from Bahria Town to the bank accounts of Vicky Trading Pvt. Ltd amounting to Rs319 billion,” the report alleged, adding that the money was transferred from 2014 to 2018.
The documents showed that inquiry into the Rs23bn money laundering case was started on July 1, 2019, as a response to a complaint lodged by Mohammad Ejaz, Inspector Intelligence and Investigation (Inland Revenue) of the FBR. The officer alleged that the directors of the Vicky Trading Company, “engaged in the business of purchase of land on behalf of Bahria Town”.
The inquiry pointed out “various anomalies in the account of the company and its directors were found, which prima facie, being used for the purpose of money laundering and tax evasion”.The inquiry accused Vicky Trading Company’s directors of “knowingly and willfully” committing the offence of concealment of assets, non-disclosure of transactions of billions of rupees and tax evasion.
According to the report, following the preliminary inquiry, show-cause notices were served on the accused persons under Section 9 of the AMLA 2010.However, the inquiry claimed that the company admitted in its written replies that it had not purchased or held any land in its name out of funds transferred to it by other entities. It was revealed that the funds were used to purchase TDRs and later on disbursed back to Bahria Town, apparently for no economic reason.
