Hearing of Hussain Lawai’s bail plea put off till Aug 16

The hearing of the bail pleas of former Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Hussain Lawai and his companion Talha Raza in a money-laundering case was adjourned to August 16.

Lawai was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on July 6 on money laundering charges after the FIA registered a case in Karachi last week over a mega money-laundering scandal involving Rs35 billion — said to implicate politicians, businessmen and bankers.

During Thursday’s proceedings, the special banking court directed a FIA lawyer to complete his arguments before August 16 in the corruption reference.

The investigation officer (IO), Afsar Ali, told the court that the FIA prosecutor was unwell and it was fair to adjourn the hearing. The defence attorneys however strongly opposed the plea of the IO and asked the court to hear the bail pleas. The court observed that the FIA prosecutor could come and tender his arguments before August 16.

Due to ill health, Lawai and Raza were admitted to different hospitals. According to National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Director Naveed Qamar, Lawai was admitted to the NICVD due to cardiac arrest. However, Raza having eyesight issues was admitted to a private hospital.

Lawai and Raza have been booked for allegedly facilitating opening of 29 fake bank accounts through which suspicious transactions were made to different companies, including M/s Zardari Group.

The investigators claim that they have enough and sound evidence against the two accused. They say the two committed money laundering of around Rs7 billion and the FIA had succeeded in recovering Rs4 billion.

Faryal Talpur, a central leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and sister of Zardari, has obtained interim bail from the trial court hearing a case of money-laundering of billions of rupees.

The court has directed Talpur to deposit surety bonds of Rs2 millions. She has been granted bail till August 16. The court considered the plea of Talpur to grant her interim bail as she feared her arrest by the FIA, which has nominated her, Zardari and others as absconders in a charge sheet. The counsel for Talpur told the court that a bench of the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) Larkana Circuit had already approved her pre-arrest bail plea in the money-laundering case.