Money-laundering: Talpur asks for more time to appear before JIT

ISLAMABAD: Faryal Talpur — sister of former president Asif Ali Zardari — on Saturday asked for more time to appear before a JIT to probe into a money-laundering case against the siblings.

Zardari and Talpur were summoned by FIA commercial banking circle at 11am, the agency's officers told Geo News.

The brother-sister duo were to record their statements in relation to a Rs35 billion money laundering case.

Petitioning for more time, Talpur requested for a new date to be fixed to appear before the investigation team.

On behalf of Talpur, her lawyer Muzzamil Qureshi appeared before FIA's zonal directorate to request the agency to grant his client 15 more days to appear before the JIT. He informed FIA that his client was busy in the banking court to obtain an interim bail.

Furthermore, the petition stated that the interim summons had illegally declared Talpur absconder in the case. The FIA had previously declared former president Zardari and his sister as absconders in the case.

The FIA is investigating 32 people in relation to money-laundering from fictitious accounts, under which Zardari’s close aide and Pakistan Stock Exchange Chairman Hussain Lawai was also arrested earlier this month.

FIA had earlier summoned Talpur and Zardari on July 11, however, the siblings had failed to appear before the agency.