KARACHI: In a surprising development, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which had recently registered a case against prominent chartered accountant and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) former chairman Shabbar Zaidi and others, has decided not to press charges against them and rolled back the matter on the `request` of the field unit concerned, it emerged on Friday.

On Thursday, the FIA`s Anti-Corruption Circle Karachi had booked Mr Zaidi and management of a private bank over allegations of issuing unauthorised income tax refunds amounting to Rs16 billion during his tenure as FBR chairman when the PTI was in power.

However, an official correspondence submitted by the FIA before a court on Oct 30 stated that the agency had decided not to put the case for trial and had converted it into `C` class (cancelled).

The contents of the correspondence read: `The Director, FIA Karachi Zone, has been pleased to accord permission for cancellation of case FIR No.

32/2025 dated Oct 29, 2025 under Rule 24.7 of the Police Rule 1934 as well as classification of case as `C-Class` and submission of discharge report before the honorable court special judge (Central-I) Karachi under section 173 of Criminal Procedure Code ... against the then chairman FBR (1) Syed Muhammad Shabbar Zaidi.