Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced its decision to implement new measures in a bid to curb money laundering practices in the country, a news source reported. The taxation agency plans to introduce these policies in order to fulfill the requirements communicated by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
To this effect, the authorities concerned are expected to conduct stern inspections at the country’s airports and borders to check all instances of foreign currency smuggling.
The government has
already imposed penalties on smuggling of cash currency worth USD 10,000-200,000
and above – with fines equaling 10 times the value of the currency. It has
further announced prison sentence of up to 14 years.
Penalties were greatly enhanced for criminal activities such as smuggling of precious stones, dollars and jewellery under the Tax Laws (Second Amendment) Ordinance 2019. The FBR had sorted the currency carriers into various categories.
In accordance with the
law, a person can carry foreign currency of up to USD 10,000, and the customs
are empowered to seize any amount exceeding this figure. For a foreign currency
figure ranging from USD 20,001 to USD 50,000, fines as well as imprisonment of
up to two years will be enforced.
Similarly, for the foreign currency value amounting from USD 50,001 to USD 100,000, the penalty enforced could be four times of the seized amount with imprisonment of up to seven years. Finally, if the currency confiscated is over and above USD 200,000 the penalty enforced would be 10 times the value of the amount and imprisonment sentence would be up to 14 years.
With regard to the smuggling of precious stones and gold/jewellery, the commodities would be seized and corresponding amount of penalty would be enacted. These penalties were elevated in accordance with the FATF requirements. The Customs Department has already commenced with a crackdown against smugglers at the country’s borders and airports.
Earlier, the FBR had recommend imprisonment for ‘trade-based money laundering’, which involves deliberate undervaluation of funds transferred abroad and also presentation of provisional evaluation of export goods. Moreover, the federal institution seeks to implement other measures to curtail money laundering.
