The Lahore High Court has stayed the audit of estranged PTI stalwart Jahangir Khan Tareen’s JDW Sugar Mills till further notice, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The court has also sent notices to the federal treasury secretary, chairman FBR and audit commissioner and sought their reply. 

Justice Muhammad Raheel Kamran Sheikh on Tuesday heard a case against a notice regarding the 2015 audit of the JDW Sugar Mills owned by Mr Tareen. 

It was prayed in the petition that the JDW Sugar Mills was among the biggest taxpayers of the country. It said that the audit commissioner on May 21 sent the sugar mills a notice regarding its audit of 2015. The AC asked the JDW to provide all documents and records of the 2015 audit. 

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The petition stated that the FBR was not authorized to do an audit of a business entity after a lapse of five years. Legally, the FBR could have conducted the JDW’s audit till Sept 2020, it said adding that since the time period for tax audit had lapsed that’s why the audit notice was illegal and based on mala fide intentions. 

The petition further said that the audit notice of JDW Sugar Mills would be in contravention of Section 122 and Section 174 of the Tax Ordinance. 

The court was prayed to declare the audit 2015 notice sent by FBR null and void on the grounds of time-lapsed action. 

Reporter Malik Ashraf