KARACHI: The campaign against money laundering and black money launched by Intelligence & Investigation (I&I) of Inland Revenue Service (IRS) is in full swing and the authorities are all set to take the crack down into second phase.
Recently, I&I of Inland Revenue Service (IRS) cracked down laundering of black money in the garb of real estate investment abroad. A couple of exhibitions organized by UAE bases real estate developers were raided and records were taken into possession.
An exhibition of Damac Properties of UAE was also raided and several irregularities were noticed.
Now, the CEO of Damac, Hussain Sanjwani is scheduled to visit Pakistan shortly to meet with FBR and I&I authorities to deliberate on the sensitive issues.
Meanwhile, management of Damac in Pakistan held a meeting with the authorities of I&I-IRS and sought time till April 06, 2015 to discuss with their legal experts whether they could share the details regarding their investors with the FBR.
It was known that based on the opinion of their legal team, Damac would share the details about their investors in Pakistan with FBR authorities.
The Intelligence & Investigation of Inland Revenue Service raided a five-star hotel in
Karachi and seized all the records pertaining to the movement of black money through informal channels i.e. ‘hundi’ and ‘Hawala’.
According to the details of the case, Additional Director I&I-IRS, Asim Iftikhar and Deputy Director I&I-IRS Asif Abro on the directives of Director General I&I of IRS, Haroon Tareen, raided an exhibition organized by Damac Properties of UAE.
Quite recently another such exhibition organized by Al-Ammar Developers of Dubai was raided and records were seized. Sources said that, IRS has secured details along with evidence of Pakistan’s nationals who invested their black money in these projects, which is suspected to be a cover of money laundering.
It may be mentioned here that Nawaz Sharif led government is making all efforts to streamline the affairs at various levels while Director General I&I (Customs) Lutfullah Virk and Director General I&I (Inland Revenue), Haroon Tareen have been tasked to eliminate money laundering and black money. Sources said that these two officers have been accorded complete authority to root out this menace from the country.
Sources told Customnews.pk that Intelligence & Investigation authorities of the IRS have now directed their focus on Karachi real estate market particularly in Defense Karachi and Clifton.
Real estate in Pakistan is also covering black money as properties particularly in Defense Karachi are registered at very lower values as compared to their real value.
It was known that black money and tax-evaded money to the tune of billions of rupees has been parked in the real estate market.
Sources said that the authorities are now contacting Defense Housing Authority (DHA) to find out the reasons behind such disparities in registered values and real market values of properties.
Records and details of investors and property owners may also be obtained from DHA to identify the investors and scrutinize their sources of income.
Sources said that this was a step in the right direction but still a long shot.