Zardari, Faryal declared absconders

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday declared former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur absconders in the money laundering case.

A two-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar had taken suo motu notice into the FIA’s probe of a Rs35 billion money-laundering scam -- during the hearing of which even reports emerged of the two Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders being put on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The duo was declared absconders in the case which also nominated others including Zardari’s close aide and Pakistan Stock Exchange Chairman Hussain Lawai. The FIA on Saturday also submitted interim challan of the case against Hussain Lawai and other suspects in the court. The FIA also declared 20 people including Anwar Majeed and his son absconder in the money laundering case.

It’s worth mentioning here that Lawai, a famous banker, was arrested by the FIA earlier this month in the money laundering case in which he is accused to have helped facilitate the opening of 29 fake accounts in the Summit Bank Sindh and the United Bank Limited.

Last week Lawai and Summit Bank Senior Vice President Taha Raza were sent to jail in the money laundering scandal. According to the FIR registered against Lawai and others, billions of rupees were deposited into the fake accounts and subsequently transferred to other beneficiaries including Zardari and his sister’s company the Zardari Group. The Zardari Group received Rs15 million of the laundered money, according to the FIR.

Earlier, Zardari denied involvement in the scam. Speaking during an interview earlier this month, he said he will face the bogus cases like he did in the past, adding he was sent a notice of Rs150 million rather than the propagated Rs35 billion.

The PPP said the report submitted by the FIA in the Supreme Court does not mention Zardari as an accused. “The news that Asif Zardari’s name is in the challan and that he has been declared as an absconder is totally wrong, malafide and spread with the intention of maligning and politically damaging Asif Zardari who is contesting election for a National Assembly seat from Sindh,” said Amir Fida Paracha, spokesman for the former president.

Paracha said the truth is that the Director General FIA Bashir Memon is a staunch enemy of the PPP and its leadership and his brother is contesting election from Sindh as the Grand Democratic Alliance's (GDA) candidate. “The DG FIA Bashir Memon wants to influence these elections in favour of his brother by using his official position,” he said, adding the PPP has umpteen times demanded his removal from the post for the election process to be free, fair and transparent. The spokesman said Additional Director General FIA Najaf Quli Mirza was also involved in the incident in which Asif Zardari was tortured and his tongue was slashed. “Asif Zardari had filed a case against him which is still to be heard,” he said. Paracha said both the officers of the FIA are out on a mission to malign and defame Asif Zardari, but they will fail.