PHC disposes of petition against FIA

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday disposed of a writ petition of the Money Changers Association filed against the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) with the direction that the agency should continue strict action against the illegal business of Hawala and Hundi in the province.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Roohul Amin Khan, however, directed the FIA to refrain from action against those moneychangers who have got the State Bank certificate and were running legal businesses.

On the previous hearing, the FIA had desealed 300 currency exchange shops in Peshawar on the court’s directives. After the court’s decision, an official of the FIA said that the agency would again start action against the moneychangers to end the illegal business of currency. General Secretary of Money Changers Association, Shakeel Ahmad Saraf, had filed the petition for de-sealing of the shops.

The petitioner’s lawyer submitted that on January 14, the FIA with the assistance of district administration and city police raided the currency market at Chowk Yadgar, Peshawar, and sealed about 300 shops dealing in Afghan currency and arrested about 45 people. The currency dealers were later released on bail. They filed the writ petition for de-sealing the shops, claiming that they were deprived of what they said were lawful businesses.