Money laundering reference: Court defers hearing Zardari, others till August 7

Money laundering reference: Court defers hearing Zardari, others till August 7

An accountability court in Islamabad has adjourned the hearing of the fake accounts and mega-money laundering case filed against former president Asif Ali Zardari and others till August 7, reported Geo News on Wednesday.

Last week, the accountability court had deferred former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur’s indictment in the mega money-laundering case.

Proceedings for the reference could not be held on Friday as Judge Azam Khan was not available for the hearing.

Mega money laundering case

In October 2015, the anti-corruption wing of the Federal Investigation Agency in Karachi received a tip-off of suspicious intra-bank transactions from the Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and the United Bank Limited.

The profiles of the account holders did not match their earnings/income. FIA authorities suspected that these accounts were being run by the Zardari Group and Omni Group, amongst others.

The case dragged on until June 2018, when the Supreme Court took suo moto notice of the fake accounts and directed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the matter.

The investigation team concluded that 32 fake bank accounts were being operated by 11 fake entities to launder money from “kickbacks, land grabbing and large scale misappropriation of public funds.”