Vehicle registration scam being investigated
As an investigation into registration of more than 15,000 vehicles worth over Rs300 billion on the basis of bogus documents nears completion, the anti-corruption department has obtained important record related to the matter.
The excise department has reportedly sent a letter confirming that the record of 4,397 vehicles is missing. Excise officials involved in the scandal have been summoned for further investigation.
The department has handed over the details of vehicles registered through auction from 2015 to 2018. According to excise data for the period, 7,013 vehicles were registered on auction vouchers, of which 1,290 were registered in the name of an employee of a suspect who conceded in his statement before an anti-corruption investigation team that he had no luck with the vehicles. During the three years, 996 vehicles were registered in the name of a stamp dealer. In his statement to the investigation team, he expressed ignorance about all the vehicles. Two other suspected front men also disowned vehicles registered in their names.
The excise department does not have the scan data of 4,200 vehicles registered through auction. The auction vouchers of the period have been sent to the agencies concerned for verification. Data of the buyers is being obtained from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
According to sources, the suspects illegally registered thousands of commercial vehicles on the basis of fake auctions.
The manufacturing companies as well as the buyers became victims of the fraud.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2020.