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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Court allows JIT to interrogate Lawai, other suspects in jail

By Our Correspondent
November 16, 2018

A banking court on Thursday allowed a Federal Investigation Agency-led joint investigation team to interrogate four bankers and businessmen inside jail in a multi-billion rupees money laundering scam case allegedly involving former president Asif Ali Zardari.

At the previous hearing, the FIA had requested the banking court to let the JIT grill Summit Bank’s former president Hussain Lawai and vice president Taha Raza, Omni Group’s chief Anwar Majeed and his son Abdul Ghani Majeed, who are in jail on judicial remand, for the purpose of investigation.

These persons have been detained for their alleged involvement in facilitating money laundering through around 29 fake bank accounts. Pakistan Peoples Party leader Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and 15 others are also booked in the same case.

The investigation officer, FIA Assistant Director Muhammad Ali Abro had sought the custody of each incarcerated suspect inside the prison from November 14 to November 17. He had told the court that this exercise would intend to question and confront the accused on the transaction record available with the JIT.

The seven-member JIT was appointed by the Supreme Court in September to probe this money laundering scam that, FIA says, streams more than Rs30 billion as per the investigation so far.

It includes FIA’s additional director Ahsan Sadiq as chairman, and Imran Lateef Minhas of Inland Revenue, Majeed Hussain of State Bank, Noman Aslam of National Accountability Bureau, Muhammad Afzal of Securities Exchange Commission, Brigadier Shahid Pervez of Inter Services Intelligence and Abro as members.

Reacting to the FIA plea, the defence counsels, namely Shaukat Hayat, Farooq Naek, Jamshed Malik and Haider Imam Rizvi, had opposed granting of permission and argued that the agency had already interrogated their clients and the trial court could not consider the application because the SC had restrained it from doing so. They had contended that the IO may put this before the apex court.

Lawai and Raza were arrested by the FIA in July while Anwar and Abdul Ghani were held in August after the investigation revealed their names as facilitators in money laundering. The case is registered under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and sections 3 and 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Former senator

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has restrained the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from arresting a former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) senator in a money laundering case of over Rs1 billion against party founder Altaf Hussain and others.

Last week the ATC-II had issued non-bailable warrants for Karachi deputy mayor Arshad Vohra, former federal minister Babar Ghauri, ex-MNA Khawaja Sohail Mansoor and former senator Ahmed Ali for their alleged involvement in the case.

The FIA claims that the suspects were involved in money laundering for the MQM founder, and that funds from the bank accounts of the party’s charity wing, the Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation, were transferred into their accounts.

Ex-senator Ali surrendered before the court, moving an interim bail application to prevent his arrest. He said he was willing to cooperate with the authorities, but he denied the allegations against him. The judge directed the investigating officer to bring the case files on November 17 and restrained the FIA from arresting Ali.

Three acquitted of money laundering charges

The additional district and sessions court of District South on Thursday acquitted three persons of charges of laundering $5.3 million.

Atif Polani, Mohammad Imran and Mohammad Danish were prosecuted for allegedly running an illegal foreign exchange company and illegal transactions of $5.3 million till October 2008 when the Federal Investigation Agency took action against the company.

According to the prosecution, Polani being focal person of Al-Zawoni Exchange in the UAE along with the co-accused in Pakistan made illegal transactions of foreign currency through fake and fictitious accounts.

The defendants’ counsel, Hummal S Zubedi, argued that the prosecution witness did not implicate the main accused, Polani, in the case and no substantial evidence had been produced by the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused.

He submitted that the defendant had already been cleared in the Khanani and Kalia money laundering and parallel banking inquiry and implicating him in a similar inquiry amounted to double jeopardy and under Article 13 of the constitution which said no person could be prosecuted or punished for the same offence more than once.

He requested the court to acquit the defendants of the charges as there had been benami transactions but no person on whose behalf the transactions were executed had been named in the case.

The counsel for Polani rejected the charges of prosecution with regard to his being the focal person of the company in the UAE. After hearing the arguments of the counsel and examining the evidence, the court acquitted the three men.