Accused held in benami accounts case

PESHAWAR: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s commercial banking circle has arrested an accused in the benami accounts case.

An official of the FIA said that the accused Fazeel Khan is son of a drug dealer Haji Khan Afridi aka Warookay Haji. He said the accused was beneficiary of 35 bank accounts held at various commercial banks in Pakistan.

During inquiry proceedings, a raid was conducted by the FIA team at his residence situated on Mall Road in Peshawar and bank receipts in large numbers were recovered from his house.

After collecting reasonable documentary/oral evidence, a case was registered, said the official.

“It transpired during the course of investigation that his munshis (clerks) were the ostensible owners of the accounts held by the accused,” said an official.

In the bank accounts in question, transactions worth Rs9 billion (approximately) have been routed through these benami accounts. “Traces of some of the accounts led to the accounts investigated by the Joint Investigation Team in Karachi,” said a source, adding, the accused has been involved in illegal/hundi hawala business.

“He is among the major buyers of foreign currency earned by expatriates in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. He used to transfer the expats’ money to their families,” the source added.