Islamabad:
A Senate subcommittee on Finance on Monday raised serious concerns about a multimillionaire corruption scandal in the importation of solar panels.
The subcommittee of the Senate Permanent Committee on the Finance Subcommitte Only year.
It was told to the panel that a total of 11 companies have supposedly been involved in the mega scandal.
Chaired by Senator Mohsin Aziz, the subcommittee met to discuss the details of the scandal.
The Federal Income Board (FBR) was highly criticized for its inability to detect and prevent these suspicious transactions.
“How did some companies manage transactions worth thousands of millions? These transactions were carried out in the country of origin, the country of shipping or elsewhere? If so, why?” Senator Aziz questioned.
He also tested how companies exceeded the annual transaction limits of RS20 million. “Where was the FBR when these suspicious transactions occurred?”
The committee revealed that 11 companies were involved in the transactions of solar panels of RS160 billion, and two central players are a commercial star solution and the Peshawar moonlight.
A private Islamic bank revealed that the accounts for these companies opened at its Badami Bagh branch in Lahore. The Bright Star account was inaugurated on August 3, 2018 by Raba Nawaz and his wife, Zainab Nawaz, while Moonlight’s story was initiated by Zahid Akbar. Bright Star began to do business only three days after his account opened.
According to bank representatives, Bright Star prosecuted transactions worth RS2.7 billion in 2018, RS5 billion in 2019, RS1.5 billion in 2020, RS3 billion in 2021 and RS2.5 billion in 2022.
Senator Aziz said that while a single -day transaction limit was RS2 million, these companies processed multiple million in a single day. “How was this possible?”
Banking officials responded that transactions that exceed RS2 million trigger a currency transaction report (CTR), which is then sent to the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU).
FMU representatives explained that receiving a CTR does not automatically indicate suspicion, but if a transaction seems doubtful, a suspicious transaction report (STR) is presented and forwarded to application agencies for new actions.
Senator Aziz demanded clarity on the actions of application agencies against companies involved in the STRs, emphasizing the need for more strict scrutiny and responsibility.
It is pertinent to take into account that earlier this month, the post settlement audit (PCA) South discovered a massive money laundering scheme of RS106 billion linked to imports of fraudulent solar panels.
The investigation identified two brothers as the alleged intellectual authors behind the operation, which was based on a network of seven Shell companies based in Peshawar and Lahore. Despite a financial value declared in Solo RS119 million, companies washed billions through imports of solar panels that are too invested.
PCA’s findings revealed that the prices of the solar panel were inflated up to 500%, with panels imported to $ 0.35– $ 0.70 per watt, far exceeding the original cost of $ 0.15 per watt in China. To hide the illicit funds, RS42 billion were deposited in cash in multiple commercial banks.
