Sarfraz Merchant, one of the key players in the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) money laundering case, has alleged Farooq Sattar and Mustafa Kamal to be MQM facilitators in Pakistan.
Speaking to a local media outlet, he said that members from both the MQM-P and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) facilitate the MQM founder.
Merchant, a former supporter of the MQM founder, was also accused of money-laundering by the Metropolitan Police and remained on bail along with the other leaders of the MQM, following his arrest in 2013.
“Farooq Sattar and Mustafa Kamal led these facilitators,” Merchant purported.
The former MQM affiliate also said that both the party chiefs have been “following the MQM founder’s line”.
Last month, Merchant said that the money laundering case against the party founder had not been closed by the London Metropolitan Police and that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will soon proceed with the case.
“The [London Metropolitan] police never closed the money laundering case. The evidence is present which will be handed over to the authorities soon and on basis of [that evidence], I’m 99% certain CPS will reverse its decision and proceed with the case,” he said at an event in London.
MERCHANT’S ARREST:
Merchant was arrested after the police found that dozens of payments were made from his account into the MQM’s UK account for the party founder and another senior figure, Muhammad Anwar.
When the police raided the MQM office in December 2012, a packet containing cash from a London club was found in the office, which the MQM said in its affidavit submitted to the police, belonged to Sarfraz Merchant while Merchant told the police that he had given this money as donation to the MQM in early December.
However, he claimed that he had been misinformed as the donation payment made by him turned out to be illegal because the MQM was not a registered political party or charity in the UK and therefore could not claim donations.