Asif Zardari, Faryal Talpur are absconders, declares FIA

KARACHI: Former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur are found absconders in the money laundering case by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday.

The FIA had also declared 20 other people including Anwar Majeed and his son guilty alongside the two names in the money laundering case.

Chief Justice  Saqib Nisar headed the two-member bench. He took an immediate notice into FIA’S probe of 35 billion money-laundering scam, during the hearing of which even reports emerged of the Nawaz duo put on Exit Control list(ECL), previously.

Earlier, the PPP chairman demurred on the fact that he was involved in the money laundering scam in any way. 

While rejecting all allegations against him he spoke on how he had tackled such accusations before. “We won’t give anyone opportunity by boycotting the election,” he added.

He further suggested that accountability should take place either before or after elections.

FIA found the leads about the scam when financial monitoring unit of the State Bank of Pakistan generated a 'suspicious transaction report' in January this year regarding ten bank accounts, reporting that over 20 ‘unknown” accounts at a private bank were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made.

The amount is thought as black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes, report FIA sources.