FBR to Penalize People For Not Reporting Suspicious Transactions

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will impose sanctions including penalties on real estate agents, jewelers, dealers in precious metals/stones, and accountants, who fail to report suspicious transactions to the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) or customer due diligence. In this regard, the FBR issued S.R.O. 290(l)12023 on Tuesday. According to the FBR’s notification, the FBR is AML/CFT regulatory authority in respect of its reporting entities, that is to say, real estate agents, jewelers, dealers in precious metals and precious stones, and accountants who are not the members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan. The FBR will impose sanctions, including monetary and administrative penalties to the extent and in the manners as may be prescribed, upon their respective reporting entity, including its directors and senior management and officers, who violate any requirement in sections 7(l), 7(3) to 7(6) and 7 A to 7H of the said Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, and any rules or regulations made thereunder or those who fail to comply with the TFS (targeted financial sanctions) regulations and whereas any person aggrieved by the imposition of sanctions under this clause may prefer an appeal in such manner and within such a period to such authority as may be prescribed. The FBR is the AML/CFT regulatory authority in respect of its reporting entities has notified that only the procedure with regard to recovery of the income tax as prescribed in Chapter XVI of the Income Tax Rules, 2002, with necessary modifications, including the following, consistent with the provisions of the Anti- Money Laundering Act, 2010 (VII of 2010) and rules and regulations made thereunder shall apply for recovery of the monetary and administrative penalties imposed under the AML/CFT Sanctions Rules, 2020 as if therein, FBR added.