PML-N lawmaker seeks answers to Shabbar Zaidi's Rs16b refund episode

Amid the allegation of giving a huge amount (Rs16 billion) to six companies as a refund when Shabbar Zaidi was the FBR chairman, a PML-N lawmaker submitted a questionnaire in the National Assembly Secretariat, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.

Shaza Fatima Khawaja, in one of the questions, said whether Zaidi refunded an amount of Rs16 billion during the last financial year (2019-20).

Other questions raised by Shaza are: Didn’t Zaidi in this benefit his private clients; whether the Engro Group received Rs2 billion and the Standard and Chartered Bank Rs1.5 billion as refund; whether Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) got Rs10 billion and Rs1.5 billion respectively as refund during 2019-20.

Shaza – who is a very active parliamentarian and a niece of senior party leader Khawaja Asif – asked whether two cement factories, DG Khan Cement and Maple Leaf Cement, received Rs500 million and Rs700 million as refund during the same period.

The PML-N lawmaker said that the abovementioned companies were aided at a time when those responsible for revenue collection were facing huge difficulties.

The issue was also raised at a meeting of the National Assembly Sub-Committee on Finance and Revenue on February 29, 2020, but the FBR did not give any reply, said Shaza as she urged the finance and revenue minister to reply to these questions in the House.