CJP Nisar ordered the JIT to submit a report every 15 days.
Islamabad (Pakistan Point News – 5th September, 2018) The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday ordered to form a joint investigation team (JIT) to investigate the money laundering and fake accounts case, involving Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar held the hearing of a case pertaining to money laundering of Rs35 billion from fictitious bank accounts.
The JIT has been formed on the recommendation of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). CJP Nisar ordered the JIT to submit a report every 15 days.
During the hearing, FIA Director General Bashir Memon while recording his statement said they conducted a raid at Omni Group’s Karachi office.
“We found documents related to Kam Crown International Trading House Company in Dubai during the raid,” the FIA DG said.
Based on those documents we conducted a raid at the Dubai office and found numerous records of foreign Currency accounts, he added.
The DIG FIA further told the court that the records of accounts found from the Dubai office belong to family of Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed and the transfers in the accounts were made by the same people as those indicated in the account details found earlier.
“From Dubai, money was sent to England and France,” he continued.
He further said that the FIA also seized several hard drives which contain a lot of data.
To this, Justice Ijazul Ahsan questioned if FIA has people who can check the data and the DG FIA responded, “Our cyber crime wing is working on it but there is a lot of data.”
The CJP then remarked, “We should form a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe this matter.”
As Justice Ahsan questioned if anyone had reservations to the formation of a JIT, Justice Nisar said, “Who will have any reservations?”
“The suspects will get a clean chit. This matter has nothing to do with the suspects,” the chief justice added.
Following this, Majeed’s counsel Shahid Hamid said, “I have filed a miscellaneous petition regarding the JIT, kindly look into it.”
However, CJP Nisar remarked, “We have records of the conversation between Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed and the chief minister. It was said that Majeed can reside at the chief minister’s residence. We will transfer the case to Punjab.”
The CJP further said, "Instead of the earlier investigation, we should form a JIT to probe into the matter. It is a matter of Rs35 billion, we want a transparent investigation.”
The FIA on August 28 recommended the formation of JIT to the apex court.
The suggestion was made as a three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umer Ata Bandial and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, resumed hearing a suo moto case regarding an investigation into the fake transactions worth billions conducted through several mainstream banks via ‘benami’ accounts.
Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and others involved in the case are being investigated by the FIA for using fake accounts and their alleged involvement in fraudulent bank transactions to the tune of Rs35 billion.
