SWABI, Nov 20: Account-holders withdrew about Rs100 million from bank branches in the Swabi district a couple of days before the commencement of Ramazan to avoid the Zakat deduction, insiders told Dawn here on Tuesday.

The total Zakat, they said, was expected to amount to Rs5 million on the PLS accounts worth over Rs200 million.

The Zakat rules say that the people who maintain an account of Rs3,000 in any bank would face Zakat cut on the first of Ramazan each year. Minorities, current deposit holders and the Afghan refugees have been exempted.

The sources said that the account-holders who wanted to avoid the deduction transferred their accounts from the PLS to current deposits, withdrew their money or declared themselves Afghan refugees or members of the minorities.

The account-holders also adopted another strategy to avoid Zakat deduction in connivance with the bank officials, who showed the deposits withdrawn on papers only and the withdrawn amount was shown to be deposited after the first of Ramazan, they said.

The sources said that the Habib Bank (HBL) deducted Rs1.2 million as Zakat, the Allied Bank (ABL) Rs400,000, the United Bank (UBL) Rs300,000 and the National Bank (NBP), Rs600,000. The figures for the Muslim Commercial Bank were not available.

When asked, some depositors alleged that the deserving people could not get aid from the Zakat fund and others said their first priority was to give Zakat to their poor relatives and neighbours.

A banker said the government had fixed the first of Ramazan for the deduction of Zakat, which provided an opportunity to the account-holders to withdraw their money before the beginning of the month.