Why fake accounts case reopened?

If a powerful former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar was completely kept in dark over the 'fake accounts' inquiry and even when it was shelved, it has raised serious questions as on whose instructions it had been done in 2015.

“I was neither informed by the FIA about any such inquiry nor when it was shelved,” Nisar told me on Wednesday.

“As far as I can remember, the FIA did not even include progress of this inquiry in their regular reports which they use to send to the interior ministry,” he added. The inquiry has now been re-opened and former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur, whose names appeared in this 35 billion alleged money-laundering scam of 29 fake accounts, have submitted their replies through their lawyers before the FIA.

It was in December, 2017, when the State Bank, in its Suspicious Transaction Report (STR), revealed the presence of 29 fake accounts, which led to the reopening of the inquiry in January this year, after it remained 'shelved' for almost two years for alleged political reasons. One also has to see as how much State of Bank had followed this matter and what action it had taken in all those years. It is still premature to say whether reopening this inquiry will dispel the perception of one-sided inquiry or not, depending on the outcome and pace of the probe.

During all these years, the FIA inquiry could not progress beyond one fake account, as all the three banks allegedly refused to cooperate or hand over any record, the FIA sources said. Now, after the arrest of one of the bankers, Hussain Lawai who is said to be very close to Zardari, the probe may take a new turn in the coming weeks. The names of Zardari and his sister have appeared because of their names in Zardari Ltd and apparently the transaction was also not big, but it is the names of some other people and companies in these fake accounts which could put him in trouble in the later stages.

Some of the concerned FIA officials are already feeling the heat and under pressure not to proceed further. The pressure is coming from within the family as revealed by one of them. "Yes, it is true," he said on condition of anonymity. “Except one of my brothers all family members advised me to stay out of such an inquiry which could have far-reaching consequences,” he stated, adding that his brother gave him the strength to go ahead and complete the job, professionally and he would not back out.

He said some of the FIA officials in the past had also faced pressure and transfers whenever they tried to touch the inquiry. The FIA will be more than happy if the Supreme Court’s three member bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar decides to constitute a Panama-like JIT.

A senior FIA official connected to the probe supported the formation of JIT in view of the legal constrains FIA which does not enjoyed the kind of powers the NAB had been given. “It’s a big inquiry involving big names and companies. So you need special powers to go deep into such scams," he added. As expected, the PPP sharply reacted for two reasons: (1) because the way the names of Zardari and Faryal were placed on the ECL and (2) three names irked them – FIA DG Bashir Memon, FIA Karachi Director Munir Sheikh and head of the probe team Najaf Mirza – and said they are anti-PPP. It would be interesting to see now whether the PPP will also oppose formation of JIT comprising officials of premier intelligence agencies. But one thing is certain: it will oppose the presence of these three persons in the inquiry; the reason is neither political nor professional, but something personal.

The FIA reopened the fake accounts inquiry in the light of STR in January 2018, but the process remained slow as it does not enjoy the kind of powers which NAB had.

Secondly, the banks named in the inquiry once again refused to cooperate and, thirdly, political hurdles prevented the FIA from proceeding the matter further as the issue of all these accounts and transaction have taken place in Karachi.

Till this day, no one knows as on whose verbal order the inquiry was shelved, particularly in the presence of as a powerful interior minister like Nisar. It was shelved after the FIA collected details of one account and immediately came to the conclusion that big names are involved. Even the State Bank did not inquire further into the matter. It remained pending and finally shelved two years back.

The FIA sources said one of the reasons why it was shelved could be political as well as the presence of names of some big business and real estate tycoons.

The timing of reopening the inquiry could be linked to the conclusion of the case against Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt Safdar.

While the PPP has a point when it questioned putting Zardari and Faryal's names on ECL when it wasn’t the case for the Sharifs, but still it needs to explain about these fake accounts and money transactions. They may have to answer more if the scope of the investigation is expanded and a Panama-like JIT is formed with the same powers.

In the past several years, there have been serious accusations of nexus between 'crime and politics’, but in the aftermath of the Karachi operation, it has nearly been unearth in some of the cases. Even in the presence of PPP and PML-N federal and provincial governments, it had been highlighted in the apex committee meetings and they have been warned as well in soft words.

All this followed by raids and action at Fisheries Cooperative Society, Sindh Building Control Authority, KDA and some other departments as well as arrest of the owner of a leading money changer group.

During all these investigations they also came to know about the presence of some fake accounts and the State Bank also confirmed in their first STR.

Now it is to be whether the Supreme Court constitutes a high-powered JIT to unearth all these transactions, fake accounts, money laundering and more importantly from where and which sources these amounts in millions and billions were coming.

Nisar, who was supervising the Karachi operation, gave go-ahead to NAB and FIA and also backed rangers for expanding the operation from terrorism to money laundering. But, the matter was mysteriously shelved after the FIA initiated the inquiry in 2015 regarding four or five fake transactions of Oct 2013 involving millions. What is most factious about it was the way some of the accounts were opened and closed within months, an FIA source said.

While the names Zardari and Faryal appeared because of one transaction in the name of Zardari Ltd. when the record of one fake account was checked, there are others who have to answer for billions.

The possibility of JIT exists particularly after the PPP has already raised objections on at least three abovementioned FIA officials.

With hardly 15 days left in the elections, we may not see the final outcome of this probe before the formation of a new government in the Centre and in Sindh, but we may see the final conclusion of the fake accounts case after following the inquiry.

The writer is a senior columnist and analyst of GEO, The News and Jang.

Twitter: @MazharAbbasGEO