KARACHI: A local court in Karachi granted a request by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to freeze 20 bank accounts involved in cases pertaining to money laundering, illegal money transfer and benami transactions.
The court allowed the FBR to freeze these accounts for 30 days after it expressed the apprehension that funds available in these accounts would be withdrawn. It alleged the accounts were previously used to transact millions of rupees within and outside the country.
Fours members of a Karachi family – suspect Pervaiz Ali and his two daughters – Sara, Anam Ali and son Jibran – are facing charges of money laundering of more than 4 lac dollars. They allegedly transferred the amount to the United States.
The suspects opened 11 accounts in private banks in 2016 for the purpose of money laundering, according to the investigation officer of the case. Till now, they have sent $4,945,00 abroad, he said.
Read Also: FBR traces ‘benami’ transactions worth Rs360 mn in Karachi
Separately, the court ordered the FBR to freeze a bank account belonging to a Nusrat Bhutto Colony resident namely Muhammad Ibrahim.
According to the IO, over Rs450 million were transacted into the account during a period between June 2015 and June 2018.
The court also ordered freezing of eight benami accounts owned by two traders allegedly involved in evading more than Rs1.26 billion tax within a period of five years. They used these accounts for benami transactions worth Rs8 billion.
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