NBP’s ex-officer invested Rs30m after Rs54bn fraud probe began, SHC told

A former officer of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) invested Rs30 million, which was probably generated from the proceeds of crime, in National Savings certificates with mala fide intention to hide the black money being investigated in a fraud case of over Rs54 billion, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told the Sindh High Court (SHC).

Filing comments on a petition filed by the bank’s ex-officer Rima Athar against the debit blocking of her accounts, the FIA’s investigating officer said the agency had submitted an interim charge sheet against officials of the NBP and a private petroleum company on fraud, criminal breach of trust and money laundering charges in the trial court.

The IO said that after the submission of the charge sheet, the petitioner had invested Rs30 million that was probably generated from the proceeds of crime in National Savings certificates with mala fide intention to hide the black money from the FIA.

FIA officials claimed that the petitioner was trying to layer funds to launder the same from black money to white money, saying that the huge investment was beyond the legal income of the accused, so the investment became the subject matter of the investigation.

The IO claimed that the petitioner being an ex-officer of the NBP received illegal gratification in the shape of a brand new 2018 model vehicle from Hascol Petroleum, while the showroom had received the payment of the said vehicle through a pay order issued from a suspicious bank account of a low-paid employer of the petroleum company.

He said that suspicious transactions had also been noticed in the bank accounts of the nominated accused Syed Ahmed Iqbal, Saeed Ahmed, Syed Hasan Irtiza Kazmi, Rima Athar, Saleem Butt, Mohammad Ali Ansari, Khurrum Shahzad, Tahir Ali and Mohammad Hamid Khan.

He added that suspicious transaction patterns in the accounts seem to indicate the layering of funds from one account to another with mala fide intention to launder the same, so the transactions had become the subject matter of the FIA investigation.

The FIA officer said the petitioner did not produce even a single piece of evidence regarding moveable and immovable assets that were generated from legal sources of income, so a notice was issued in accordance with the law for the seizure of accounts until the completion of the inquiry.

The petitioner, who was named as one of the accused in a multibillion bank loan fraud case, claimed in the petition that the FIA had unlawfully blocked her accounts without any notice. After taking the comments on record, the court adjourned the hearing until April 6. The petitioner’s counsel had earlier said that more than 30 officials of the NBP and a private petroleum company had been arraigned but bank accounts of only nine of the accused had been debit blocked.

He said the petitioner was a widow with school-going children, and she needed money to run her household. He added that she had obtained the subject money from the insurance policy of her late husband for running her household.

On a previous hearing the court had allowed the petitioner to withdraw only the profits generated from the savings certificates and the regular income certificates.

NBP and Hascol officials were booked by the FIA on charges of fraud, criminal breach of trust and money laundering. The agency claimed that they had committed financial fraud in the shape of bank loans, over-invoicing, costly storage arrangements, kickbacks, money laundering and funded and non-funded financial facilities in violation of the banking laws, causing wrongful losses to the national exchequer and gains to the petroleum company.