ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is summoning the sugar dealers for recording their statements in Chaudhary Sugar Mill money laundering case and forcing many of them to confess that they used to buy the commodity from this mill of Nawaz Sharif family against fake bank transactions, reliable sources said.
“We are being summoned again and again and forced by FIA Lahore region office to confess that Chaudhary Sugar Mill used to sell them sugar stocks against fake transactions”, one of the aggrieved sugar dealers told NEWSMAN on the condition of anonymity on Wednesday.
FIA is investigation the business history of Chaudhary Sugar Mill spanning over more than two decades to trace its involvement in money laundering to prove the case against PML N supremo and his other family members in the court of law.
Sources said dozens of sugar dealers have so for been summoned and grilled by FIA , Lahore region in connection with business transactions made by thrm with the Chaudhary Sugar Mill.
“I have been summoned more than one time and each time I am forced by FIA investigators to confess that Chaudhary Sugar Mill had been getting payments of billions of rupee in other than the mill accounts”, the aggrieved sugar dealer said.
FIA investigators are giving a clear message to the sugar dealers during investigation to either become an approver against Nawaz Sharif and his family or keep facing grilling.
Shahbaz Sharif has already landed in the jail in identical case of Ramzan Sugar Mill.
Ramadan Sugar Mill and Chaudhary Sugar Mill are two prime industrial units of Sharifs and FIA and NAB have strong views that these, like many other industrial assets of Sharif family,were used to launder ill-gotton money from Pakistan.
For this the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had initially investigated the affairs of Chaudhary Sugar Mill and later on transferred the case to FIA for final investigation. Since 2019, FIA is working on this case.
Chaudhary Sugar Mill was originally set up in Gojra, but later Sharifs shifted it to Rahimyar Khan in 2015.
Since Sharif dynasty was at its peak in mid 20s, nobody dared to question shifting of the mill from Gojra to Rahimyar Khan illegally.
The Sharif dynasty too might have not thought that one day its rule will get over and they will have nothing to defend shifting of the mill from Gojra to Rahimyar Khan.
Now with getting Sharifs in sluggish waters, Chaudhary Sugar Mill is a major area of interest for NAB and FIA to prove the case of money laundering against Sharifs.
Sharifs are under scrutiny since 2018. NAB has filed dozens of cases against Sharif dynasty during the last two years. The piles of evidences have been provided by NAB and FIA to prove their cases before the court of law.
Since sugar dealers do business on day -to -day bases, they can not afford to get grilled by NAB or FIA for doing business with any miller.
For the same undue and unwanted act of NAB and FIA they have stopped to do sugar business.
A Faisalabad -based sugar dealer said the dealers do not have any role in money laundering or some other dubious activity of any mill including Chaudhary Sugar Mill and if some group is involved in any illegal activity like money laundering, it’s responsibility of the state institutions to take strict action against it.
According to an office bearer of All Pakistan Sugar Dealers Association, FIA uncalled action has created panic in sugar market which resulted in increase in price of the commodity.
