Pak businessman under tax evasion probe over lavish wedding

Islamabad, Nov 14 (SocialNews.XYZ) Pakistan's Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has completed an initial probe into a businessman who allegedly spent 2 billion PKR on his daughter's wedding in Punjab province.

The FBR on Friday directed the businessman to explain the source of income, after which his withholding tax will be ascertained and a legal action will be followed if tax evasion is found, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the tax body's investigation, the man who runs a business of tiles under the name of "Master Tiles" spent 150 million PKR on a luxurious country club in provincial capital of Lahore which he booked for 120 days for wedding festivities, according to a local media report.

Apart from it, 20 million PKR were given to an event management company for arrangements at the wedding, and the same amount of money was spent on decorations and flowers, the report said, adding that another 10 million PKR and 9.5 million PKR were used for fireworks and photography, respectively.

A leading singer of the country also charged 15 million PKR for performing at the wedding, while the rest was spent on jewellery, meals, gifts, dresses and other things, the report said.

The wedding trended on social media platforms for several days because of its lavish spending, and many celebrities attended it.

The current Pakistani government has set tax collection as one of its prime focuses after coming to power, and tax evaders face legal actions by the government.

In October, the office of a cellular company was sealed in Islamabad for non-payment of taxes worth 25.3 billion PKR.

Source: IANS