Zardari, Faryal no more on ECL

ISLAMABAD: The Interior Ministry has removed the names of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur from the Exit Control List (ECL), sources told Geo News on Wednesday.

"Zardari and Talpur's names were removed from the ECL on the directives of the interior secretary," the sources said. "The interior secretary had prepared a summary a few days earlier directing that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader and his sister's names be removed from the list," they added.

The move comes after the Supreme Court on July 12 put to rest reports that it had issued directives to bar the PPP co-chairman and his sister from leaving the country for their alleged involvement in a corruption case, sources further said.

A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar while hearing a suo motu notice into the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) probe of a Rs35 billion money-laundering scam clarified that the brother-sister duo had not been not placed on the ECL.

Earlier sources had said their names had been placed on the no-fly list on the orders of the Supreme Court. The FIA is investigating 32 people in relation to money-laundering from fictitious accounts, under which Zardari’s close aide and Pakistan Stock Exchange Chairman Hussain Lawai was also arrested earlier this month.

Zardari and Talpur had also been summoned by the FIA for questioning regarding the case. However, the chief justice directed the FIA not to summon the brother-sister duo till the July 25 election.