Faryal Talpur, a central Pakistan Peoples Party leader and sister of former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, said on Saturday that she is unable to appear before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the multi-billion-rupee laundering case against her and that she needs more time.
Advocate Farooq H Naek said his client is busy arguing her case at a special banking court, so it is not possible for her to appear before the FIA’s joint investigation team at present.
Naek requested for granting her more time. The authorities had listed Faryal as an absconder in their charge sheet. She obtained interim bail on Friday from the trial court hearing the case.
The special banking court directed Faryal to deposit surety bonds of Rs2 million, as she was granted bail until August 16. The court had earlier considered her plea to grant her interim bail, as she feared her arrest by the FIA that has nominated her, Zardari and others as absconders in their charge sheet.
Faryal’s counsel told the banking court that a bench of the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) Larkana circuit had already approved his client’s pre-arrest bail in the money laundering case.
Earlier, the FIA had declared Faryal, Zardari and others absconders. Also facing charges in the case is Zardari’s close aide and former Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Hussain Lawai. The FIA had submitted an interim charge sheet against Lawai and other suspects in court, declaring more than 20 people absconders.
Another aide to Zardari, Anwar Majeed, and Majeed’s son are among the absconders in the money laundering case. Lawai and his companion Talha Raza are facing charges of corruption of around Rs35 billion and are already in detention.
Faryal, through her counsel Naek, had filed for pre-arrest bail to the SHC Larkana circuit bench, contending that the FIA had registered the case on a political basis and the move to register the case was to prevent them from contesting the 2018 general elections.
The two-member bench comprising Justice Irshad Ahmed Shah and Justice Rasheed Soomro had considered the argument and accepted the pre-arrest bail appeal for six days.
In cases in which the accused is granted protective bail by the appellate court, they are made duty-bound by the court to approach the trial court before the expiration of the bail.
The attorneys for the two accused had already opposed the plea of the investigating officer at the time the two detained bankers were produced before the South judicial magistrate, terming the allegations of money laundering of around Rs35 billion as fictitious charges.
Advocate Shaukat Hayat had argued that a dormant case was reopened against Lawai without any legal justification. He also contended that Lawai had been a board director of the Pakistan Stock Exchange and his arrest had caused a very negative impact on the stock exchange.
The FIA took notice of the scam when the financial monitoring unit of the State Bank of Pakistan generated a “suspicious transaction report” this January regarding 10 bank accounts, reporting that over 20 unknown accounts at a private bank were opened between 2013 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made.
The FIA declared Zardari and Faryal absconders in a corruption case relating to fake accounts and fictitious transactions worth Rs35 billion. The case was initially registered against Lawai and other accused bankers.
Lawai and other bankers were accused of facilitating the opening of 29 fake accounts at the Summit Bank, the Sindh Bank and the United Bank Limited, where beneficiaries of the Sindh government had deposited Rs35 billion that was subsequently transferred to different accounts.