KARACHI: US State Department said that the Altaf Khanani Group was involved in serious money laundering for criminal groups and terrorist establishments and called the group as a Money Laundering Organisation (MLO).
The report is at least nine months old but has only recently been made available to the media. “Pakistan-based Altaf Khanani MLO was nominated by the USA as an international organised criminal group. The organisation facilitated illegal transfers of money between countries including UAE, the UK, Canada, Australia, Pakistan, and the USA” it states.
The report further stated Khanani MLO facilitated, among others, Chinese, Colombian and Mexican terrorist groups and individuals. It notes that due to the strategic location of Pakistan, its unsecured borders with Iran, Afghanistan and China have become avenues for the smuggling of narcotics and illegal items.
“Pakistan is involved in the monetary facilitation of crimes including tax evasion, fraud, corruption, trade in counterfeit goods, smuggling of illegal items, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling/trafficking, terrorism and terrorist financing,” the report states.
It must be noted that earlier this year, in January a committee was formed on the directive of the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, to fully investigate the Khanani and Kalia money laundering case. It was also said then that these investigations were actually initiated in 2008 but had to be stalled due to unexplained reasons, and that the entire record of the case was also disposed of.
In December 2016, Javed Khanani of the Khanani and Kalia group passed away he fell off from an under-construction building in Karachi’s Mohammad Ali Society. According to SP Gulshan-e-Iqbal Dr Fahad Ahmed Mukhtar, it appeared to be a suicide case and that the under-construction building belonged to the deceased.
Khanani and Kalia was one of the biggest foreign exchange companies in Pakistan but was accused of money laundering and fraud hence closed down by the Pakistan govt in November 2008. It has been under investigation by the FIA since then.
