ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed on Tuesday that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had so far recovered Rs167 million from Pakistani nationals holding properties and assets in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) whereas the retrieval of another Rs161m was in the pipeline.

The information was shared with a three-judge SC bench which had taken up a suo motu case relating to illegal transfer of money from Pakistan to foreign countries. The case was initiated when it came to the notice of the Supreme Court that a large number of Pakistani citizens were maintaining accounts in foreign countries without disclosing it to the local authorities or paying taxes on them in accordance with the law.

On Tuesday, FBR Chairman Mohammad Jahanzeb Khan also informed the apex court that Aleema Khanum, the sister of Prime Minister Imran Khan, had to pay Rs29.4m in taxes and fines and the deadline for making payments was Jan 13 this year.

FBR chairman says PM’s sister Aleema has to pay Rs29.4m in taxes and fines by 13th

At a previous hearing, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had furnished a report containing a list of 44 politically exposed individuals or their benamidars who possessed properties in the UAE. Aleema Khanum was identified as the benamidar of a property in the UAE. The report stated that the FIA had already issued a notice to Ms Khanum through email as well as delivered it at the home address, but her servant said she was abroad.

Later in an affidavit, Mr Khanum conceded that she owned “The Lofts East 1406” — a property which was paid for from the funds generated from her business dealings overseas. But the property had already been disposed of and the FBR was also informed about its purchase and sale, it added.

In the fresh report, the FIA said it had issued a notice to Ms Khanum at House No. 14, Upper Mall, Lahore, on Monday, which was received by one Muhammad Nawaz.

During the hearing, the chief justice said the court was given an impression that as if Rs3 trillion would be recovered from those holding properties abroad and questioned the performance of the FBR.

Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan also asked about the outcome of 21 model cases that were identified earlier and the court was told that this model would be utilised to determine on a fast-track basis the status of 2,154 properties which had been discovered by the FIA or the information whereof had been provided to the FBR.

At this, the FBR chairman said that an amount of Rs167m had so far been recovered, whereas notices had been issued to others for recovery of more funds.

The FIA informed the court that it had identified another 96 individuals who had properties in the UAE and the total number swelled to 1,211 people holding 2,154 properties there. Of this, 774 have submitted their affidavits to the departments concerned, with 420 individuals having availed the Foreign Assets (Declaration and Repatriation) Ordinance 2018 — commonly known as amnesty scheme — promulgated on March 26 by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Likewise, 168 persons have disclosed their foreign properties to the FIA inquiry officer and 78 declared their properties in tax returns to the FBR. Ninety-four individuals disowned UAE properties shown in their names.

The FIA said notices had been served on 363 individuals, while 60 persons could not be identified and 17 were not cooperating with the probe team.

The case will be taken up on Jan 14.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2019