KARACHI: An accountability court on Monday convicted four accused, including two Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officers, in a Rs111.477 million scam involving illegal sales tax (ST) refunds.

The accused — then Inland Revenue officers Shahid Shamim and Shamim Akhtar along with private persons Mohammad Sabir and Mohammad Shahid Iqbal — were found guilty of committing fraud in connivance with each other and making illegal ST refunds.

Accountability court-IV Judge Farid Anwar Qazi noted that the prosecution successfully proved the charges against the accused persons.

The judge awarded five-year imprisonment to the officers and imposed Rs2.828m fine on both. He also imposed a fine of Rs19.701m each on the private persons, who are brothers.

According to the prosecution, the accused persons in connivance with each other had availed illegal ST refunds against fake invoices with mala fide intentions, causing losses worth Rs111.477m to the national exchequer.

NAB files reference

Meanwhile, the National Accoun­tability Bureau filed a reference against the former office-bearers of the Madras Cooperative Housing Society in an alleged Rs310m graft case.

The bureau nominated former assistant registrars of the society — Younus Baloch and Mohammad Azeem — along with others, including Haji Imam Bux, Ahsan Zubair, Faisal Waqar and Samad Waqar.

It alleged that the suspects misused their authority and committed corruption of around Rs310m.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2019