LAHORE: One of the main alleged satta-agents (speculative pricing players) has told the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Lahore that sugar mills had allegedly been increasing the price of each 100 kilograms of sugar bag by Rs 150 to Rs 200.

Official sources privy to the information told Business Recorder that the accused in his “confessional statement” told the FIA that he had been actively involved in forward booking of sugar in connivance with brokers of various sugar mills.

The sources claimed that the accused had “admitted” that he had been in forward booking with brokers for Hamza Sugar Mills (Tayyab Group), Hunza (Sawera) Sugar Mills, Al-Moiz Sugar Mills and Kisan/Madina Sugar Mils.

“With earnings from the sugar business (satta), the accused in 2019 shifted from his four marla ancestral home in Lahore’s Shahdara area to one kanal furnished house in DHA Phase-8,” the sources said.

About the other satta players, the accused said: “All the satta players were doing their business on three main WhatsApp groups – Pakistan Sugar Group, Sugar Group and Sugar Merchants.”

Meanwhile, the FIA also recorded ‘confessional statement’ of another alleged satta player.

According to the sources, the accused has “confessed” that he had been involved in satta with the connivance of brokers for major sugar groups including Maidna/Kissan Sugar Mills, Tandlianwala Sugar Mills and JDW Sugar Group of the estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen.

“The JDW sugar group was on the top of list in satta/forward booking while the Tandlianwala Sugar Mills used to do forward booking for a month,” quoted the accused as saying.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021