The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has served a notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for costing the country a whopping Rs690 million (Rs69 crores).
As per the details, NAB did not deduct 15% withholding tax while paying damages worth over Rs4 billion (Rs4 Arab) in the Broadsheet case.
The News quoted sources as saying that a notice on behalf of the International Tax Department of FBR under Section 152 of FBR Ordinance was sent to NAB to pay the said amount.
The notice said it had come to the knowledge of tax department that NAB had paid damages to Broadsheet LLC — the United Kingdom (UK) based company roped in during military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s regime to track down foreign assets purchased by Pakistani politicians “through looted money”.
“NAB had to deduct 15% withholding tax and deposit it to the national exchequer at the time of payment under the Income Tax Ordinance, but it was not followed,” it said.
The fine was paid to the UK-based firm after NAB ended with it the asset recovery agreement in 2003, pushing Broadsheet as a third party to move the London High Court for damages.
The UK-based companies claimed that Pakistan owed them money according to the terms agreed upon since the government was taking action to seize assets identified by the firm, including the Avenfiled Apartments of the Sharif family.
After much drama, an arbitration court of London had imposed a $20 million fine on NAB in the Broadsheet case. However, NAB had to pay an extra $9 million under the head of mark-up due to non-payment on time.
The court in London had withdrawn over $28 million partially in this regard by freezing accounts of the Pakistan High Commission.
