PM's promise to go after sugar mafia 'soon to be fulfilled': Shibli Faraz

Information Minister Shibli Faraz has assured the nation that Prime Minister Imran Khan will soon fulfil his promise of going after the sugar mafia.

"PM Imran Khan's promise, to go after those who patronised and benefited sugar mafia by fleecing public at large, soon to be fulfilled," Faraz said in a tweet on Sunday.

The minister also shared that a "very important" meeting regarding the matter will be held at the prime minister's Banigala residence today.

He added that a press conference will also be held but did not specify if the premier would address it.

Separately, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has alleged that PM Imran is the sugar mafia himself.

She added that accountability was happening in the country by letting PTI leader Jahangir Tareen, one of the accused in the inquiry commission report, by letting him go to London.

Also read: Sugar Inquiry Commission didn't highlight NPMC's role in failing to control prices

“Who are you fooling?” asked the PML-N leader, adding that decisions of the ECC and cabinet were approved by PM Imran and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

The sugar inquiry commission report which came out as a bombshell has been already rejected by the main opposition party PML-N. Meanwhile, the government has repeated multiple times that it will hold everyone accused of benefiting from the scandal accountable.

'Damning revelations in Sugar Inquiry Commission's report'

The Sugar Inquiry Commission report had laid bare some startling revelations about how the price of sugar is fixed, how exports of the commodity are faked to avail rebates on sales taxes, and how billions of rupees are overcharged by sugar mills owners.

According to sources, the report mentioned in depth how the amount of sugar exported to Afghanistan is routinely inflated to show as if 75 tonnes of the commodity were being exported per truck.

However, this is barely possible, given that the maximum capacity of a truck, even when overloaded, does not exceed 30 tonnes.

Also read: Farmers association urges government to take strict action against sugar mafia

The scam also seemingly has another purpose: laundering money. If sugar is being exported to Afghanistan, the payment should also be coming in from the same country.

However, it was found by the commission that many sugar mill owners were receiving telegraphic transfers for payments for sugar sold to Afghanistan from the US and Dubai, therefore seemingly whitening money and earning dollars at the same time.

Another important finding highlighted in the report is that sugar mills paid an estimated Rs22bn in taxes to the Government of Pakistan, but out of that total amount, Rs12bn was reclaimed in rebates. Hence, the net contribution was close to around Rs10bn.