FIA registered 94 inquiries against money laundering, hawala-hundi: sources

KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has expedited the investigation against money laundering and hawala-hundi and registered 94 inquiries after concluding its two-year probe into different complaints, citing sources, ARY News reported on Saturday.

It is pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Imran Khan had ordered crackdowns against money laundering and hawala-hundi, whereas, many business personalities, government officers and sectors were allegedly found involved in the illegal transfer of money from the country.

Sources told ARY News that FIA scrutinised clearance of imported and exported items during the last five years. During the two-year investigation, the investigators found evidence of 80 per cent imports without having any involvement of banking sectors.

Read: FIA opens money laundering probe against Jahangir Tareen’s JWD

A major portion of transactions was made for the payment of re-conditioned vehicles, whereas, many money exchange companies were found involved in running hawala-hundi.

It emerged that hawala-hundi centres are established in different countries and fake documents for purchases of properties were used for money laundering, added sources.

Read: FIA opens money laundering investigations against actress, model Sofia Mirza

Earlier in September, FIA had busted a money laundering network in Karachi during a raid conducted in a residential building situated on Shaheed-e-Millat road.

The raiding team had recovered a huge quantity of gold, foreign currency, documents of houses and vehicles. An official had detailed that the seized gold and foreign currencies including British Pound, Saudi Riyal, Qatari Dirham, US Dollar worth more than Rs150 million.