From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday submitted an interim challan in the sugar scandal, revealing how mill owners and satta mafia earned Rs110 billion through hiking price of the commodity.
According to the interim challan submitted before a judicial magistrate by the FIA, satta agents in Karachi were communicating through 16 WhatsApp groups and continued to hike the price of the commodity.
“They increased the prices of x-mill rates using their front men and caused an artificial shortage of the commodity to earn an amount of Rs110 billion,” it said.
The report found that satta mafia members in Karachi artificially hiked the sugar prices in the city and created an artificial gap between the demand and supply of sugar in the market.
Sharing their modus operandi, the report shed light as to how despite making initial payments on speculative prices, the satta agents used to refrain from lifting sugar from the mill.
The agency said that they have carried out a forensic audit of the electronic devices used by the accused to understand the mechanism adopted by the satta members besides also collecting data of their transactions from banks.
Two accused, namely Muhammad Jaleel and Muhammad Bilal, have been nominated in the case.
