LAHORE: In a reply to “an attempt aimed at maligning its members”, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) said that none of its members was involved in the Rs762m tax fraud.
An Aptma spokesman said that none of its members were involved in the tax fraud, alleged to have been committed by a yarn trader from Faisalabad.
The spokesman said in a statement, “None of the Aptma member mills mentioned in a news report as beneficiaries of the Rs762m tax fraud carries any tax liability or line whatsoever, with regard to the alleged fraudulent transactions made by the Faisalabad trader being held by the tax authorities.”
It added, “Rehman Textile – the mill whose owner is accused of stealing tax – was an active taxpayer at the time the Aptma member mills had done business with it. Moreover, all transactions were made through banks and the two per cent sales tax on their sales was deposited by the suppliers with the FBR as per law.”
He said the Aptma member mills had made all the transactions under the terms of SROs 1125 and 283 while ensuring that the purchaser was registered on the active taxpayers’ list and the payments were made through the banking channel in conformity with Section 73. Thus, he added, the “onus of justifying the alleged sales by the alleged trader lies on the trader himself who made transactions to the weaving mills”.
