The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has appointed Parker Russel AJS- Chartered Accountants as investigators for "carrying out serious fraud investigation/forensic audit of Hascol Petroleum Limited".

Hascol shared the development in a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday.

“The company hereby informs you that the SECP vide its Order No. EMD/I&1/233/770/2019 dated 19 January 2022 under section 258(1) of the Companies Act, 2017 has appointed Parker Russel AJS-Chartered Accountants as investigators for carrying out serious fraud investigation/forensic audit of the company in terms of section 258(1) of the Act,” read the notice.

Earlier this month, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) decided to start an audit of the income tax and sales tax affairs of Hascol and its senior management.

It was learnt that the FBR’s relevant field office will also conduct an audit of the tax affairs of the management and the board of directors of the said company.

In this connection, the relevant tax office will issue audit notices to the company and its management. The scope of the audit would cover taxation matters, Benami laws, and provisions of the anti-money laundering law.

The audit period of the company, management and board of directors would cover 2018-20.

In August 2021, the SECP Chairman, Aamir Khan, gave a presentation to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance. As per the presentation, the SECP conducted an investigation and forensic audit into the financial matters of the company.

At that time last year, the committee had also received a comprehensive briefing from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the SECP on the financial reporting issue of the company. The committee was informed that in 2019, the liabilities increased from Rs24 billion to Rs44 billion as compared to 2018.