There are allegations of widespread sales tax cheating against the proprietors of a well-known shoe company in Pakistan.
A customs employee has been detained by the Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation, Inland Revenue. The employee is suspected of being a part of a gang that operates dummy and false units in order to avoid paying Rs. 1.2 billion in sales tax.
A well-known shoe retailer is said to have greatly benefited from the fictitious and fraudulent invoices that M/s Fast Traders generated. Without actually delivering the items to these two companies, M/s Fast Traders has produced fictitious and false bills totaling Rs. 57.8 million, with a sales tax of Rs. 9.8 million, and Rs. 1.19 billion, with a sales tax of Rs. 208 million, respectively.
The said beneficiary has allegedly paid only Rs. 651.5 million into the bank account of M/s Fast Traders against the sales tax inclusive value of Rs. 1.47 billion (i.e., section 73 compliance is made only to the extent of 41.91 percent of the total value; that’s too much for hoodwinking the department).
It was discovered that Malik Faisal Sajjad purportedly withdrew the money in cash the same day each time it was transferred from the bank account of the aforementioned beneficiaries to the bank account of M/s Fast Traders. Thus, Malik Faisal Sajjad has taken out a total of Rs. 651 million in cash from a single bank account.
According to the investigation conducted on behalf of the aforementioned accused, fraudsters created a bank account in Lahore and formed a fake unit (Fast Traders) using Muhammad Imran’s name. The information about the bank account that was retrieved indicated that Malik Faisal Sajjad was purportedly responsible for the aforementioned tax fraud. They said that Malik Faisal Sajjad was out of sight and could not be located despite his valiant efforts.
In the process of trying to track him down, it was discovered that he works for Pakistan Customs as a Lower Divisional Clerk (LDC), now assigned to the Directorate of Input Output Coefficient (IOCO), located in Lahore.
It was also discovered that the accused had not been up for work since November 1, 2023, and that no one in his workplace knew why he was absent.
He is purportedly one of the members of the gang running dummy and phoney units using complex concealment and layering techniques. During the hearing, the accused is only providing very little information, and he is just acknowledging the facts that are presented before him based on documentary, audiovisual, or other forms of evidence.
