KARACHI: Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation Inland Revenue, Karachi on Wednesday claimed to have unearthed a major money laundering case in millions against a listed LPG marketing company.
According to details, the Directorate claimed that this listed LPG marketing company involved in organized financial crime and complex accounting techniques to evade taxes and money laundering through clandestine transactions.
Moreover, it said that this deceit network for money laundering was run by the CEO of the accused company in collusion with other directors and the CFO and added that the accused company was involved in purchase and sale of smuggled LPG which was bought from Taftan Border, and the related proceeds were kept out of books.
Therefore, the accused company through the concealment of sales and purchases has evaded taxes amounting to around Rs 1,775 million and the CEO, CFO and other directors of the accused company acquired properties worth in billions from the proceeds of crime as defined under section 3 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010.
During the investigation, it was revealed that an extremely organized and complex structure of various bank accounts and banking transactions established by the accused persons for laundering of illegal money.
The accused persons have also established various shell companies wherein illegal money is injected as equity against issuance of shares and these shell companies then declared heavy salaries to directors and various expenses, and declared loss even before commencement of operations.
The Directorate further stated that in tax year 2015, the accused company was fraudulently acquired by another private limited company by funds acquired from NBP on the basis of defective land records.
Furthermore, it said that the accused directors were the directors of the acquiring company at the time of this fraudulent merger which violated the provisions of section 97A of the Ordinance resulting in evasion of capital gain of around Rs. 1 billion.
The accused company has also concealed heavy investments of around Rs.240 million in a private limited company and has also concealed acquisition of the said company in the name of the accused CEO.
Moreover, the personal bank accounts of the accused CEO and other directors have indicated huge cash transactions in their personal bank accounts from undisclosed sources, and hefty credits from another listed company which are prima facie from the proceeds of smuggled LPG being sold in the market.
It said that the Investigation had further led to detection of concealment of sales preliminary in two years amounting to Rs.726 million and Rs.828 million and added that the company had unexplained and out of books movement of funds of Rs.389 million and Rs.396 million in the tax year 2018 and 2019 respectively from its bank accounts to an individual prima facie for purchase of smuggled LPG.
The wealth statements of the accused directors, CFO and CEO revealed that they had amassed wealth of billions of rupees in just few years especially after acquisition of majority shares of the accused company.
Consequently, the Directorate has filed complaint no.945/2020 under section 3, 4, 8, 9, 20 and 21 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010, which was admitted in Customs & Taxation court
Furthermore, the court has provisionally allowed attachment of nine bank accounts of the accused company which appear to be involved in money laundering for a period of 90 days from the date of order and issued non-bailable arrest warrants of the accused CEO, CFO and other two directors of the accused company. The Directorate further said that the role of external auditor and the banks involved in the case was also under investigation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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