LAHORE: A day after serving call-up notices to five more sugar mills, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has sent questionnaires to owners of all sugar mills in Punjab and sought details of the sweetener sold during the last two years and the taxes paid to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in this regard.
An official source told Business Recorder on Thursday that the agency has sent an 11-point questionnaire to owners of all the sugar mills and summoned them and their Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) on different dates in the ongoing sugar crisis probe.
In the questionnaire, a copy of which is available with Business Recorder, the FIA has directed the CFOs of all the major sugar groups in Punjab to submit details of their production capacity, how much sugar they had sold and money earned from the stock during 2020-21 and what taxes they had paid to the FBR.
“The CFOs of sugar mills must also bring record detailing how the sugar mills were booking or selling sugar stock through satta (artificial price hike) business,” reads a questionnaire, which also sought details of sugar sold through alleged satta.
The questionnaire further asked about the persons who were “authorized” in the sugar mills to determine and increase the prices of the commodity.
According to the source, the agency while directing the CFOs to bring details related to “sugar sold to brokers and dealers through satta” in the last two years also asked them to “explain in detail, through documents, how and on what grounds the sugar mills sold the sugar”.
Interestingly, the source added, FIA has asked the CFOs to submit documentary proof during their appearance before a Combined Investigation Team (CIT) how alleged satta agents (speculative pricing players) contacted with the sugar mills owners, how they negotiated their alleged commission and what is the procedure of payment to such elements.
On Wednesday, the FIA had served call-up notices to five sugar mills and summoned their Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) for their alleged involvement in sugar satta business and money laundering.
As per the notices, the agency had directed the CFOs of Chanar Sugar Mills (Kiyyani Group) and Hussain Sugar Mills (Hussain Group) to appear before a Combined Investigation Team (CIT) on April 13 at the agency’s Temple Road office.
Similarly, the CFOs of Itehad Sugar Mills (Itehad Group) and Kashmir Sugar Mills (Al-Shafi Group of Companies) were summoned on April 4 while the CFOs of Two-Star Sugar Mills (Umer Group/RYK) have been summoned on April 15, 2021.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021