Money-laundering case: FIA grills Moonis for four hours

LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency on Thursday grilled PMLQ leader and former federal minister Chaudhry Moonis Elahi in a case against him over charges of committing money laundering.

Moonis appeared before a three-member FIA investigaton team at around 9am. It has been learnt that the investigators questioned him for four hours and handed him a questionnaire comprising 40 questions. The FIA team asked him about his alleged connection with the arrested accused, Nawaz Bhatti and Mazhar Abbas. It asked him about his links with the Rahim Yar Khan Sugar Mills. How Makhdoom Umar, another accused in the case, got a licence for the mill in 2007, it asked. The FIA team allowed Moonis to leave after four hours. However, FIA sources said he was likely to be summoned again in the near future.

Meanwhile, the FIA obtained four-day physical remand of co-accused Nawaz Bhatti and Mazhar Abbas. As per FIA claims, low profile individuals identified as Nawaz Bhatti and Mazhar Abbas jointly set up the RYK Sugar Mills Ltd in 2007/2008. Nawaz Bhatti is a brother-in-law of the brother of Muhammad Khan Bhatti, a Punjab Assembly employee, said to be an aide of Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. The FIA claimed that the sugar mill was set up ostensibly by laundering funds from unexplained sources, including proceeds of financial crimes. The mill's capital increased by Rs720 million in 2008, but the source for these funds as well as those required for the acquisition of land, import of plants and machinery and administrative expenses remained "unexplained", the FIA said. Moreover, between 2011 and 2014, Nawaz and Abbas, who held most of the mill's shares at the time, disposed of their shares, but this transaction also remained unexplained. The FIA said the bank record examined so far had revealed that Nawaz Bhatti and Mazhar Abbas were signatories in multiple bank accounts with a turnover of Rs24 billion.

Later, talking to media, Moonis said he first appeared in the FIA office on Wednesday and was told to come on Thursday at 8.30am. “I told them to ask me whatever they want because I have answer to every question. When they ran out of questions, they started asking me the same questions again. This case is just an attempt to tarnish my image through a media trial. I was later given a questionnaire which I will submit after consulting my lawyers,” he said.

In response to a question, he said the FIA wanted to arrest him, not to investigate him. If they wanted to investigate him, they should have given him a notice first. “I have come to them myself, so they gave me a questionnaire. I have come to tell them today that if they want to ask me something more, tell me when I will have to come again, but there is no need for such a spectacle.”

He said this whole drama was staged on Wednesday only to divert people’s attention from an unconstitutional PA budget session convened by the PMLN at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal. “The only problem for them is that we did not support the PMLN and stood firmly with Imran Khan. If I support the PMLN today, these dramas will end immediately. My tax returns and all records are regularly submitted to the FBR and the Election Commission of Pakistan.”

Meanwhile, a special court granted interim pre-arrest bail to co-accused Wajid Khan Bhatti till June 22 in the case registered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against Moonis Elahi and others on the charges of money laundering. The court ordered Wajid to furnish surety bonds of Rs500,000 for availing the relief. The court also sought a report from the FIA on the next date of hearing.

Special Court (offence in banks) Judge Muhammad Aslam Gondal heard the bail application of the co-accused. Earlier, the counsel for the co-accused argued that the FIA registered a case against his client and others on the charges of money laundering. He submitted that his client was innocent and implicated in the case with mala fide intentions. He submitted it was feared that the FIA might arrest him. He pleaded with the court to grant the benefit of bail to his client.

The FIA has registered a case against Moonis Elahi, Punjab Assembly Secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti, Muhammad Nawaz Bhatti, Muhammad Ali, Mazhar Abbas, Makhdoom Omar Shehryar, Tarik Jawaid and Wajid Khan Bhatti under sections 109, 420, 468, 471, 34 of the PPC read with 5 (2) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1947 and 3/4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010 in connection with the affairs of RYK Sugar Mills.