ISLAMABAD: Justice Babar Sattar of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday questioned the power of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to raid a private firm in an alleged tax fraud case.

Justice Sattar was hearing the petition of private firm Pakistan Accumulators that challenged FBR’s authority to initiate criminal proceedings without assessment of tax liability.

During the hearing, an FBR official informed the IHC that the Intelligence and Investigation Directorate was looking into tax fraud of Rs250bn.

The petitioner’s counsel played the CCTV footage of FBR’s raid inside the courtroom. After watching the video, the judge questioned the FBR’s reason for raiding the premises of the said firm.

The court was told that the raid was conducted to arrest the company’s chief financial officer, an absconder. The FBR, however, could not give plausible reasons for taking possession of files, which were returned later on.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2025