Lawai remanded in FIA custody till 11th in money laundering case

KARACHI: A local court on Saturday accepted the request for granting physical remand of prominent banker and former president Asif Ali Zardari’s close aide Hussain Lawai and his companion Talha Raza.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is probing a potential laundering scandal of Rs35 billion implicating a top political leader along with his businessman and banker friends.

Arrested a day earlier, Lawai and Raza were brought to the court of South Judicial Magistrate Shahrukh Shahnawaz, who granted the FIA’s request and remanded the two accused until July 11.

Earlier, the investigators supplied the copies of the case to Lawai’s attorney, Advocate Shaukat Hayat, who told the court that an inquiry of a dormant case was reopened and was not worthy in legal terms.

The investigators, however, claimed that they had enough and sound evidence against the two accused. They said the two accused had committed money laundering of around Rs7 billion and the FIA had succeeded in recovering Rs4 billion.

After the attorneys for the two accused and the investigators exchanged heated words, the court intervened and ordered them against addressing each other directly and, instead, address the court about the legal issue.

Lawai, chairman of the Pakistan Stock Exchange and former head of a private bank, was arrested with Raza, another banker, on Friday and charged with money laundering.

Responding to the court’s query, the two men said they were not tortured or victimised by the FIA investigators. The attorneys for the two accused, however, asked the court to order their medical check-up.

The attorneys also told the court that the two bankers were highly educated and that they deserved to be granted B-class facilities during their detention.

The court directed the investigating officer to get a medical check-up of the two accused and submit its report in the next hearing. The court also directed the officer to submit a progress of the case and the investigation in the next hearing.

Talking to the media later, Lawai said he was not aware of the matter of the case and the investigation being conducted against him. He said he will know about the facts after the trial starts.

He said he had been working as a bank’s president and was not aware of the opening of any bank accounts by anyone. When a journalist asked if he was targeted because of his friendship with Zardari, Lawai said time will expose all the facts.