Managing Partner Faraz Salehjee of Chester Bernard has been arrested after being accused of committing tax fraud since 2012, by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
The investigation was led by Intelligence, which revealed that the proprietor of the manufacturing unit, along with his associates, was involved in the fraud through retail and online selling of garments without the due payment of sales tax.
To prove the accusations valid, the department conducted the investigation which revealed that Faraz Salehjee had been registered a sales tax unit and was also enrolled as an exporter with no declared manufacturing unit in the FBR database.
It was further stated that the accused had four illegal and undeclared retail outlets in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Faisalabad. He was also running an online store actively and the inquiry added that the garment company had filed ‘Nil’ monthly sales tax returns from July 2012 to January 2016 in e-portal and from February 2016 onwards, the accused person was a non-filer.
Moreover, the investigation department confirmed that the bank statements and information had assisted them into establishing the facts regarding the ‘Nil’ filing of sales tax returns, in order to evade sales tax liability. This directly came under the sphere of tax fraud and added that the Faraz, who is now on seven-day remand, along with his acclaimed associates, provided a financial shock of Rs 6.11 million to the national stockmarket.
