Money Laundering Case: Court extends interim bails of Faryal Talpur, others

KARACHI: A banking court hearing a money laundering case on Tuesday extended interim bail of Faryal Talpur and other accused.

The court hearing case against former president Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and other accused, related to money laundering through fake bank accounts.

Zardari, Talpur and other accused appeared before the court in the case. The case was adjourned till December 10, without any proceeding.

The court extended interim bail of Faryal Talpur, Ali Majeed, Nimar Majeed, Mustafa Zulqarnain and other accused.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted a report in the court about declaring the five fugitives in the case as proclaimed offenders. The absconders included Naseer Abdullah, Adnan Javed, Umair and two other accused.

The investigation officer informed the court that legal formalities are being completed to declare the accused as proclaimed offenders. The advertisements have been pasted at the homes of the accused and letters were written to the concerned deputy commissioners seeking information about the properties of the accused.

The court issued non-bailable arrest warrants of the five absconders and directed the investigation officer for a quick completion of the formalities to declare the accused as proclaimed offenders.

The court adjourned the hearing of the case till Dec. 10.

Fake bank accounts case

In July, the FIA had made some high profile detentions including former chairman of the Pakistan Stock Exchange, Hussain Lawai, and booked them for allegedly facilitating the opening of fake bank accounts through which suspicious transactions were made to different companies, including M/s Zardari Group.

The said amount was transferred to different business entities and individuals, including the Zardari Group, a company owned by Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur, which received Rs15 million. The list of the beneficiaries included the names of Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur, Abdul Ghani Majeed, Shahzad Ali, Zain Malik and 15 others.

Most recently, the JIT submitted a progress report to the top court in October, which revealed that transactions of Rs 54 billion were made through 107 fake bank accounts.

In December 2016, the Pakistan Rangers conducted raids at the Karachi office of the Omni Group of Companies and the residence of its owner Anwar Majeed, a close aide of Zardari, and confiscated record allegedly related with money laundering.