The Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) in Islamabad has unveiled a significant financial scandal involving solar panel imports amounting to Rs 16 billion, bringing to light a serious breach in import regulations and financial monitoring protocols.
According to the FBR’s investigation, a private company illegally imported goods worth Rs 1.62 billion, including solar panels valued at Rs 16 billion for 11 companies. With a combined financial standing of less than Rs 4 million, these companies were not authorized to import goods through banks. The FBR’s findings also indicate that these companies’ data were systematically deleted post-import to evade detection.
This incident follows a previous discovery where over Rs 69.5 billion in over-invoicing was detected in solar panel imports between 2017 and 2022. The FBR report identified a consistent pattern of over-invoicing in 6,232 Goods Declarations (GDs) from 63 importers. It was found that Rs 72 billion was transferred by two private companies for solar panel imports worth only Rs 45 billion.
The Senate’s standing committee on finance received a briefing on these matters from the FBR chairman. Additionally, FIRs have been registered against those involved for violating financial monitoring unit rules by commercial banks.