Biography
Mr. Raashid Anwer is a Partner in both Khalid Anwer & Co. (www.khalidanwer.com) as well as in Abraham & Sarwana (www.abraham-sarwana.com). He is a graduate of Cornell University and his experience of appearing before the Superior Courts of Pakistan spans more than two decades. He deals with a wide range of issues which companies face, including commercial, constitutional, tax, labor and employment matters. In recent years, he has been counsel or co-counsel in the Supreme Court of Pakistan in most high-profile and important tax cases. He has had the privilege of being involved in what are probably the three largest tax cases ever argued in the Supreme Court. In addition, he regularly appears in the Supreme Court in employment matters. He is currently representing the second largest bank in Pakistan in a pension matter in the Supreme Court where the Bank will have to incur extra expenses of $280 Million if it does not succeed. Mr. Raashid Anwer has, inter alia, appeared before the Superior Courts in the following high-profile matters:
(a) He successfully represented Pepsi-Cola International before the Supreme Court in a matter arising out of the tax authorities’ attempt to recover more than $700 Million in back taxes allegedly owed by Pepsi-Cola.
(b) He represented Hubco (the largest private Power Producer) in a banking matter in which the Defendants were seeking to encash a Standby Letter of Credit for $150 Million. Although, there were numerous Supreme Court judgments stating that the Courts should not stop the encashment of Standby Letters of Credit, he was able to convince the Sindh High Court to treat this as a very special case in light of the facts of the case and to suspend the encashment demand. The Defendants then agreed to settle the case out of Court and withdraw their encashment demand.
(c) He was co-counsel in a challenge to the validity of a tax called the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess in the Supreme Court. This was the largest tax case in the history of Pakistan as the total amount of Government revenue involved was more than $5 Billion!
(d) He is currently representing a wide cross-section of industry in a challenge to the vires of the Sindh Infrastructure Cess in the Supreme Court in which he has got interim relief pending the decision of the case. This is perhaps the second largest tax case in the history of Pakistan.
(e) He regularly advises the pharmaceutical industry on Drug Pricing issues. He was the lead counsel for the multi-national pharmaceutical industry in the Supreme Court wherein he successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to allow price increases in a large range of pharmaceutical products.
(f) He is currently representing three of the four largest banks in Pakistan in various employment/pension cases in the Supreme Court.