The Lahore High Court (LHC) Friday struck down hundreds of notices issued by the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) to various people in anti-money laundering investigations. At least 382 petitioners approached the court after they were summoned by the FBR. Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza ruled that the FBR could not summon people in an anti-money laundering probe without providing a valid justification. The court approved the petitions against FBR notices. However, it rejected the requests to dismiss the cases registered by the bureau. The court also declared that failure to provide details of bank accounts in tax returns did not constitute a crime and that the FBR cannot hear cases registered before 2020. The court further said that FBR violated the law by directly issuing notices.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP