The Inland Revenue (IR) Intelligence and Investigation Directorate of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in Karachi has successfully dismantled an inter-province network involved in counterfeit and fictitious sales tax invoices.
Four suspects connected to this fraudulent scheme have been apprehended, marking a significant breakthrough in curbing a scam that inflicted a staggering Rs. 11.6 billion in revenue losses to the national exchequer.
In a criminal case filed in the Court of Special Judge Custom & Taxation in Karachi, the IR Intelligence team initiated the operation. They first arrested the primary suspect in Faisalabad, who was found to be submitting fabricated sales tax returns on behalf of various dummy companies from his residence.
The second individual linked to the scam was apprehended at the PRAL (Pakistan Revenue Automation Pvt. Ltd.) Call Centre in Islamabad. This individual, who worked as a facilitation officer at PRAL, was discovered to be involved in providing user IDs and passwords of inactive sales tax-registered units to agents connected to the counterfeit invoice network.
During the investigation, officers recovered a staggering Rs. 1,600 million worth of counterfeit output tax data from the suspect’s computer. He had intended to transmit this data through the FBR’s e-filing system (IRIS) to an accomplice.
Upon receiving information from the arrested individuals, another agent was detained in the vicinity of Islamabad. The fourth suspect, who hails from Faisalabad, was a former employee of PRAL Faisalabad but had been dismissed from service in 2014. Subsequently, he pursued a career as an advocate and is currently a member of the District Bar in Faisalabad.
Following their investigation and a period of physical remand in the custody of the IR Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, all four suspects are presently in judicial custody at Central Prison, Karachi. Sources within the Inland Revenue’s anti-fraud unit have confirmed that this marks a significant milestone, as it represents the first time an entire network involved in such fraudulent activities has been dismantled by the Directorate of I&I-IR in Karachi.
