FBR official arrested for tax refund fraud

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested a Federal Board of Revenue official over charges of involvement in illegal sales tax refunds.

The spokesman for the bureau’s Sindh chapter said on Wednesday Rauf Abdul Nasir, deputy commissioner of the Regional Tax office-III, Karachi, was arrested in the Tharparkar district.  The Federal Board of Revene (FBR) official is charged with illegally sanctioning sales tax refunds to business firms which never existed. 

According to a statement issued by the anti-corruption body, such refunds have been initiated, processed and sanctioned against fake and bogus invoices by FBR officials, resulting in losses to the national exchequer to the tune of Rs120 million. NAB’s Karachi chapter has already filed references in accountability courts against the scam of illegal tax refunds totalling around Rs700 million.