TOBA TEK SINGH: A Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) team on Wednesday arrested one of the owners of Faisalabad’s Gold Star Steel Industry in a sales tax fraud of more than Rs 1.63 billion.

According to FBR, Waqas Ahmad and other owners of Gold Star Steel were caught in a scramble to close the mills and open a steel industry under a new name after massive tax evasion.

Electricity bills were showing continuous production but finished goods were being sold to unregistered buyers.

It said in December 2023, Gold Star was in default of Rs 10 million of income tax and the management of the industry disclosed a stock of Rs 1.63 billion in December 2023 sales tax returns whereas its management had stopped filing sales tax returns from January 2024.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2024