An amount of Millions of PKR was allegedly embezzled in the form of withholding tax through fake FBR vouchers in the property registries conducted in the year 2019-20 in the Sub-Registrar Office of the Revenue Department, D I Khan.
A highly reliable source told The Asian Mirror that in 2019-20, a group of deed-writers kept depositing the 2% withholding tax levied by the federal government on all types of agricultural and commercial properties at the Sub-Registrar Office through fake vouchers due to which the amount was going to their personal wealth instead of going to the national exchequer, this illegal activity continued for a long time.
According to a careful assessment, an amount of more than 70 million PKR was allegedly swindled instead of being deposited in the national exchequer.
According to the source, from the year 2016, 2% stamp duty along with 2% withholding tax was imposed by the federal government, in this regard, FBR allotted Tax Registration Code 9050077- to Sub-Registrar Dera Ismail Khan in the year 2016.
The Sub-Registrar Office was mandated not to register any citizen’s property without 2% stamp duty and 2 % withholding tax.
According to an official of the Sub-Registrar Office, in the year 2019-20, some deed-writers have produced fake FBR vouchers with the certain registration code to embezzle the amount of withholding tax. FBR (National Bankman Branch Code 0327) has been registered online for collection of this tax but instead of depositing the amount received in this regard at the said counter, the deed-writers used to prepare fake FBR vouchers and attach them to the registry.
When the sub-registrar of that time allegedly checked the records by investigating the vouchers attached to the registry, the total amount of fake tax receipts was found to be more than 70 million PKR, which were pocketed by the deed-writers instead of the government treasury.
The Sources also claim that some close officials of the Sub-Registrar were also involved in this corruption.
An official of the Sub-Registrar Office, D I Khan on the condition of anonymously said “when the sub-registrar of that time came to know about the forgery of FBR vouchers, instead of taking action, he got huge benefits by colluding with the forgers, The sub-registrar got a new Honda car, a plot of valuable land and some cash from the deed-writers involved in this corruption and subdued the matter,” The Official told.
The Official further told The Asian Mirror sub-registrar when came to Dera from nearby district Tank, he was a clerk and lived in a small rented house in a area called Bilalabad on Multan Road and now the said sub-registrar owns dozens of plots and have a luxurious residence while he is now working on the post of Sub-Registrar District Tank.
The said Sub-Registrar has anonymously transferred the property in the name of deed-writers and his front man which was close relative of his instead of his own name.
According to a reliable source, the official fee of the Sub-Registrar is Rs.100 only for land less than five kanals and for land above that he is officially bound to charge Rs.100 for the first kanal and Rs.50 for each kanal thereafter but rather, the said sub-registrar was not doing so and was robbing the citizens by collecting custom fees in the name of the commission.
According to the sources of the sub-registrar office, if NAB and other government investigation agencies investigate the above-mentioned sub-registrar in a scientific manner on modern techniques, there are strong possibilities of exposing the black money in Millions.
Sources further said that the sub-registrar is keeping the commission registers with several corrupt deed-writers and the sub-registrar most of the time is absent during office hours due to which citizens prefer the commission and thus the sub-registrar tries to extort money through his staff.
The above-mentioned sub-registrar has also developed close relations with some property dealers and has also acquired properties from them and is an expert in creating wealth by contributing to the property dealers by registering the property of citizens through commission.
In this regard, when the said ex-Sub-Registrar D I Khan Habib-ur-Rahman was contacted to know the position of the charges against him, he referred to the letter number DIAC/2020-21/253-257 dated 28-12-2021 of the Revenue Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Director General Audit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa submitted letter number DG/Audit/PRA.148-150/2020-21/2676-78 dated 31-12-2021 in which there is no information regarding the above allegation of corruption in the property registries conducted in the year 2019-20.
The ex-Sub-Registrar Dera refused to give any satisfactory reply to the allegations leveled against him regarding Rs.70 millions of withholding tax through fake FBR vouchers in the registries held in 2019-20.
