Rs459 bn of sugar satta money pumped into edible industry: FIA

ISLAMABAD: Almost Rs459 billion allegedly accumulated through satta sugar trade have been diverted to the other industries owned by politically-connected industrialists, preliminary findings of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) reveal.

Investigation teams have collectively detected Rs671.4 billion in 397 accounts of sugar satta forensic audit of which is being conducted by the Lahore FIA.

"Billions coming from sugar satta accounts are going into cooking oil, rice and pulses manufacturing industries either owned by the same industrialists or their front companies," reveals an official document exclusively made available to Geo News.

The credit turnover of these 397 accounts believed to be owned by either sugar mills owners, their front-men, employees and or sugar satta agents remained Rs.671.4 billion in the past two year, says an official document exposing the beneficiaries of this satta amounts carrying details of all accounts maintained at multiple private or government-run banks.

The preliminary forensic discloses that the maximum credit turnover of allegedly sugar speculative trade money has been linked to WR Edible Oil Refinery through Asad Bhaya and M. Gogi, Paracha Vegetable Oil and Ghee through Aslam Bhalli, Fatima Vegetable Oil Mills through Malik Asim and Omer Butt, Faisal Oil Refinery/Kisan Ghee through Omer Butt and Sikandar Azam, Abadgar Cotton and Oil Mills through Omer Butt, Navid Shafiq and Saleem Rainbow, Hunza Ghee Industry through Nadeem SA and Omer Butt, Dawood Oil and Ghee through Omer Butt and Mian Irfan, Farooq Ghee and Oil through Omer Butt and Mian Irfan, Indus Flour and Oil Mills, Asia Ghee and Kashmir Oil and Ghee Mills through Mirza Nadeem and Jaffer Hussain Malik, Kissan Ghee through Faysal Zia Butt and Atif Paracha and this list goes on.

According to a breakdown of sugar speculative trade money transferred to oil and other edible industries, Sind Feed and Allied Products had a turnover of Rs8 billion, Hunza Ghee Industry Rs19 billion, MME International Rs2 billion and Ittefaq Rice Traders Rs2.2 billion.

The investigation further reveals that Faisal Oil Refinery Pvt. Ltd. had speculative trade money of Rs2.2 billion while Omer Salahuddin remained a major beneficiary.

Agri Trade International earned Rs3 billion, Elahi Group of Companies Rs3.7 billion, Aloha Impex Rs1.6 billion, M. Iqbal Rs6.6 billion, Paracha Vegetable Oil and Ghee Rs1.5 billion, Ali Traders Rs8 billion, Ishrat Ijaz and Company Rs880 million, Ali Traders Rs3.1 billion, Sahiwal Traders Rs270 million, Abadqar Cotton and Oil Mills Rs10 billlion, Promising Pulses International Rs2.7 billion, Shaukat Enterprises Rs43 million, AK Enterprises Rs570 million, Cheema Rice Traders Rs1 million, Faisal Oil Refinery Pvt. Ltd.Rs44 billion, Raza Elahi Electronics Rs2 billion, Unique Exim Company Rs3 billion, M/s Al-Haq Impex Rs2.7 billion, Muhammad Iqbal Suleman Rs16.5 billion, Farooq Ghee and Oil Mills did a speculative trade of sugar of Rs2.1 billion.

The findings further reveal that THARA International Karachi had a turnover of Rs6 billion, Basco Constructors Rs2.4 billion, Agro Trade Pvt. Ltd. Rs19 billion, Unique Exim Company Rs2.1 billion, AR Traders Rs8 million, Elahi Group of Companies Rs32 billion, Anand Traders Rs66 million, Taj Rice Rs28 million, Ajwa Industries Rs651 million, Dawood Oil and Ghee Mills Rs1.4 billion, Bilal and Company Rs160 million, United Industry Ltd Rs23.6 billion, Amir Rice Traders Rs395 million and Zafar Agencies Rs1.4 billion.

Similarly, Shahzad Traders did speculative business of sugar of Rs379 million, Faran Foods Ltd. of Rs144 million, Hunza Ghee Industries Pvt. Ltd. of Rs4.1 billion, Raza Elahi Electronics of Rs2 billion, M/s Al Haq Impex of Rs2 million, Babar Enterprises of Rs30 million, Malik Ghulam Rasool and Company of Rs2 billion, Zamurd Sultan of Rs500 million, Farooq Ghee and Oil Mills of Rs2 million, Zain Impex Rs8 billion, M/s Bhitai Traders Commission Agent of Rs6.8 billion, Mukhtar Saleem Ltd of Rs2.3 billion, Target Station of Rs516 million, Waheed Khan of Rs187 million, Muhammad Iqbal of Rs21.8 billion, United Industries Ltd of Rs36 million, Rana Brothers of Rs1 million, Khawer Group of Rs400 million, Tanveer Hussain of Rs20 million, Mukhtar Saleem Ltd. of Rs4 million, Khawaja Traders of Rs300 million, Adeel and Abu-Bakr Brokers of Rs9 billion, Unique Trading Company of Rs15 billion, Saqib Umer of Rs2.5 billion, Mukhtar Saleem of Rs33 billion, Ittefaq Rice Traders Ltd of Rs1.3 billion and Zamurrad Rice Mills of Rs6 billion, Alhmmd Ali Transport and Ship of Rs3.5 billion, Al-Hammd Ali-EPC Pvt. Ltd. of Rs9.8 billion and Ghousia Rice Mills of Rs137 million.

Officials say the list goes and many industries, millers and agents got this current balance of tens of billions of rupees in accounts. "It is yet to determine whether this diversion of hundreds of billions was made to make black money white in this case," an official says. "We are working on this angle too," he adds.