‘Fake accounts can’t be opened without connivance of bank officers’

KARACHI: A fake account cannot be opened in any bank without the connivance of the bank officers, says a former officer of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Khaliquz Zaman, a former deputy director of the FIA, told this correspondent that the laws of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) are very clear in this regard. He said it is the responsibility of the bank officers to scrutinise credentials of the account holders before opening their account. He said the bank officers can easily open account of any person if they want because they have access to the Nadra record.

The former FIA officer said that such accounts have been used for money laundering since 90’s. However, he said, no concrete steps were taken to stop this trend.