Money laundering case: NAB court summons Zardari, Talpur on April 8

The court has also directed other accused to attend the hearing.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Accountability court has summoned Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur on April 8 in money laundering case. According to details, the court has also directed other accused to attend the hearing. Earlier, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had handed over questionnaires comprising 54 questions each to Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in three cases including Park Lane Estate reference, and subsequently directed them to submit their response within 10 days. The members of a joint investigation team (JIT) of the anti-graft watchdog recorded their statements after 2 hours of interrogation at the bureau’s office in Rawalpindi concerning accusations over Park Lane Estate Company (Pvt) Ltd — a Karachi-based real estate firm co-owned by Zardari and Bilawal. Reportedly, both of them were interrogated separately by two investigation teams led by NAB DG Irfan Mangi. Sources familiar with the matter told Dunya News that Bilawal denied his link with the case by stating that he could not comprehend why he was added to the list of persons being investigated. However, he assured officials of cooperating in the investigation process. He told the team that he was just one-year old when the company was established and he did not support corruption in any way. He urged officials to take into account facts concerning the matter and expressed hope that they would not be called again.

Money laundering case against Zardari

On December 24, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), formed on the apex court’s orders to probe into the alleged money-laundering case, presented its 128-page final report to the court which included recommendations for filing 16 NAB references.

The report had mentioned that 29 fake accounts were identified by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) which laundered Rs42 billion, however, the team further discovered 11,500 bank accounts of 924 account holders, 59 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and 24,500 Cash Transactions Reports (CTRs).

All of these details were scrutinized, besides the loan profile of 924 individuals.

The report further stated that the fake accounts were opened through the Omni Group, however the accounts had been engaged with direct transactions with the Zardari Group, Bahria Town, Sindh Government departments and certain contractors while the ultimate beneficiary of money laundering was Zardari’s family.

Later, the court had ordered Zardari to submit his reply by December 31, however, during the previous hearing extended his and his sister s interim bail till January 7.

On September 6, the SC had formed a JIT to probe into alleged mega money laundering of Rs42 billion channeled through fake bank accounts in three banks.

Besides the Zardari family, several prominent individuals including former Summit Bank president Hussain Lawai and Omni Group president Anwar Majeed, have been accused in the case.

Property tycoon Malik Riaz, his son-in-law Zain, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have been also included in the inquiry.