FIA Probes Tax Evasion of $750 Million in NATO Fuel Supplies

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has launched an investigation into tax evasion of $750 million in fuel supply to NATO as a complaint had been lodged with the FIA ​​Karachi Zonal Office last year via email under the name ‘Adnan Afridi’.

The complaint ​​alleged that Pakistan State Oil (PSO) had supplied jet fuel and diesel to NATO forces in Afghanistan and had submitted 17 percent customs duty on the national treasury. Afterward, Senator Taj Afridi had used influence to hand the contract over to his two companies, Alhaj Enterprises Pvt Ltd. and Al Noor Petroleum Pvt Ltd. The companies had brought 250 ships into the country, with each ship carrying fuel worth $3 million, which amounts to 750 million USD.


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The FIA had begun the process of verifying the complaint in September 2020, and the investigation had been handed over to Fazal Mohammad, a Corporate Crime Circle Inspector. Later on, Ataullah Memon was appointed as the Investigation Inspector, and he had suggested that the investigation be stopped two months later in a report, stating: “The complainant seems to be anonymous and his email is fake”.

Subsequently, on 29 December 2020, the zonal office had been instructed to transfer the investigation to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The complaint also states that the Alhaj Group owns offshore companies, including Alhaj Energy, Alhaj Energy and Trade DMCC, and Alhaj General Trading Company LLC, while an Indian company also owns shares in the Alhaj Group in the fuel storage terminal. The money from fuel had allegedly been laundered to Dubai and America.


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The accused, Taj Afridi, claimed that there had been no FIA investigation against his group as the FIA ​​had received a complaint from an unknown person and the law does not allow an investigation into a complaint lodged by an unknown person.

Director FIA Sindh Zone, Amir Farooqi, confirmed that the investigations had been carried out in the Corporate Crime Circle.

Now, the investigation has been handed over to the Anti-Corruption Circle that is carrying it in the ACC Circle under Inquiry No. 42/2021.



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