LAHORE  -  The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has said there is no evidence that re­nowned singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has been involved in money-laun­dering, tax evasion or any other illegal activity. 

Pakistan’s premier investigation agen­cy confirmed that it has closed its inves­tigation into a suspected money-laun­dering and tax evasion case into the hit singer due to lack of evidence of any wrongdoing. 

The Additional Director of FIA Lahore Zone confirmed that the competent au­thority has authorised the closure of the investigation against Rahat Ali Khan and others, in accordance with the recom­mendations put forth by the field inquiry unit which recommended the closure of the investigation against Khan. There is no evidence found in the available re­cords that implicates Rahat Fateh Ali Khan in any illegal currency smuggling activities, said the FIA senior officer. 

According to details provided by the FIA Lahore, an inquiry was initiated in January this year against Rahat Ali Khan and 182 other frequent travellers de­parting from Lahore International Air­port to work abroad. This investigation was prompted by data concerning fre­quent travellers, with a specific focus on identifying any individuals involved in currency smuggling or money launder­ing, said the report. 

It is worth mentioning here that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) initi­ated a money laundering and tax evasion inquiry against the popular singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and others based on their travel record. 

The FIA said: “The data of 182 travel­lers was provided by the Deputy Direc­tor of Immigration at Allama Iqbal Inter­national Airport, Lahore. Consequently, the proceedings were initiated in order to detect any frequent traveller found in smuggling off currency or money laun­dering. The name of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was also included in the frequent list of travellers. However, on the basis of avail­able records nothing incriminating has been found against Rahat Fateh Ali Khan to establish that he is involved in the ille­gal business of currency smuggling.” 

Recently, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s former manager Salman Ahmed said that the singer had earned over Rs8 billion over 12 years from both local and internation­al concerts. He had asked the Pakistani authorities to look into the matter but sources inside the relevant departments have said that Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has paid his taxes on time and remains up­dated and in compliance with the laws. 

Sources in the FIA and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have said that Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has paid taxes on all his lo­cal and international incomes. The sourc­es said that the FIA decided to issue a clean chit to Rahat Fateh Ali Khan in con­sultations with the FBR, and after check­ing the tax records of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan which were found to be up-to-date and in compliance with the tax laws. The FBR previously issued several notices to Rahat Fateh Ali Khan in taxation matters but his accountants have cleared all the dues.