FIA holds anti money laundering session

LAHORE: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Additional DG Basharat Mahmood has said that proceeds of crime, financial transactions, knowledge and concealment were the major elements of money laundering.

“Unsubstantiated wealth, irregular work/travel patterns, suspicious banking, and no apparent job are common indicators of money laundering,” he said while addressing an awareness session on money laundering jointly organised by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and FIA.

He said money laundering was a process through which criminals conceal the origin of money earned through illegal means, and make it appear as legitimate by performing a number of complex transactions.

Mahmood said money laundering was conducted to conceal illegal activities, quick disposal of cash in bulk, to conceal illegal resource of income, to make it look legal, to conceal ownership and to use it for pleasure/extension of the network.

“To ensure external and internal security of the country we have to keep check on movement of money. Money laundering is a transactional crime and is the root cause of many systemic economic, social and political problems of Pakistan,” he concluded.

LCCI President Almas Hyder said, “We need to know the mechanism to avoid this problem while carrying on with our normal business terms with foreign companies. He said businessmen wanted to know if there was any distinction between a business traveller and a normal traveller carrying certain amount of foreign currency.