FAISALABAD:The Benami Zone-II (BZ) Lahore has so far filed 22 references under the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act 2017, while out of Rs 50 billion identified properties, Rs 20 billion properties have been attached so far.
This was stated by commissioner Inland Revenue (IR) and head of the benami zone, Dr Yasmin Fatima. She was addressing an awareness session on the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act 2017 at the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI).
She said the main objective of enactment of the Benami Transaction Act was to broaden the tax base in addition to ensuring documentation of economy. She said although Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act was enforced in 2017, still most of people were unaware of its impact and implications.
She said an amnesty scheme was also announced so that people could regularise their black money, but still the business was going on in different forms. She said three cases relating to businesses and exports had been identified as case study for the session. She said that on receiving complaints from individuals or through official sources, a preliminary investigation was conducted. After confirmation of any illegality, notices were issued to the persons concerned. She said approximately 90% complaints were rejected at the pre-investigation stage, as they did not have substantial material to proceed against the person. She said it takes 6-8 months to file a reference under Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act and it is very encouraging that not even a single reference had been challenged in the high court.
“All writs filed against the references have been decided in favour of Benami Transaction,” she said.
Earlier, FCCI Senior Vice President Chaudhry Talat Mahmood briefly explained the importance of the Faisalabad city and the FCCI and promised that the Chamber would extend full support for implementation of the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act in letter and spirit. He also presented the FCCI shield to Dr Yasmin Fatima.