FBR exposes Rs16 bln scandal in guise of solar panel imports

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday exposed a Rs 16 billion financial scandal under the pretext of importing solar panels in Islamabad, ARY News reported.

According to the FBR report, a private company made illegal imports worth Rs 1.62 billion, along with the illegal imports of solar panels worth Rs 16 billion for 11 different companies.

The report revealed that the imports were carried out for companies with a financial position of less than Rs 4 million in total, and were not eligible to import goods through Banks.

The report further claimed that after the suspicious imports, the data of these 11 companies was systematically erased to avoid detection in the system.

Earlier to this, over Rs 69.5 billion over-invoicing was unearthed in the import of solar panels during 2017-2022.

According to the FBR report, a clear pattern of over-invoicing was revealed on 6,232 Goods Declarations (GDs) from 63 importers, and Rs 72 billion was transferred from two private companies however solar panels worth Rs 45 billion were imported.

The Senate standing committee on finance was briefed by chairman FBR on the matter related to over-invoicing.

The commercial banks have violated the financial monitoring unit rules in making the transfer hereby an FIR has been registered against those who are involved.