An air of complete mystery has surrounded the prosecution of a former Pakistani-American Congressional-aid under investigation for reported irregularities and money-laundering allegations after new details have alleged the ex-aid is linked to terror outfit Hezbollah.
Imran Awan, a former IT aid to a number of Democratic Congressmen including former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is under investigation for computer irregularities and keeping tabs on the correspondence of the Democratic representatives he worked for.
Back in August this year, Pakistan Today had reported the initial incident when Imran Awan had been arrested from the Dallas airport attempting to flee back to Pakistan. His wife and other family had already done so before him. He had been charged with fraud initially, but the allegations have continued to grow over time and terror links are the latest on the list.
New details in the case have emerged indicating that Imran Awan along with his brother Abid Awan were using a car dealership known as the “CIA” as a cover to launder ill gotten money back to Pakistan. The revelations were made by a former partner in the dealership Nasir Khattak during investigation proceedings according to The Daily Caller. The situation is made all the murkier with allegations of terror links surfacing after details emerged of Iranian-linked terrorist group, Hezbollah, frequently deploying used car dealerships in the US to launder money and fund their activities.
At present, Imran Awan has only been indicted for bank fraud. But with these new allegations coming up regarding his family’s car dealership and possible terror links, one can expect more to be added to the list. Investigators may also be interested in the rest of the Awan family who are currently in Pakistan after having successfully fled the US.
Before this, there already seemed to be a great sense of secrecy around the matter. The American Congress has quietly moved to tighten its security as many shun media coverage of the Democrat’s IT scandal.
Politico reported that the U.S. House of Representatives is holding member-only “listening sessions” this week. These private meetings will cover solutions to possible cyber-security leaks of congressmen’s emails and other data, alleged theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment and much more. All of this is related to the group of IT administrators, from Pakistan.The matter can be traced back to six individuals of Pakistani origin; three brothers named Imran, Jamal, and Abid Awan; their wives Hina Alvi and Natalia, and Rao Abbas who have worked as IT staffers for 32 former and current Democratic members of the House of Representatives between 2004 and 2016.
The lack of media coverage has also meant that the story has been left free to be warped in whichever direction those following it have seen fit. According to Politico, Several hardline conservatives and right-wing bloggers have seized on conspiracy theories related to the investigation, claiming that Awan had access to Wasserman Schultz’s emails while she was chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee and that he, not Russia, was behind the leak of thousands of DNC emails during the election. The intelligence community, including the CIA and FBI, has said conclusively that Russia was behind the hacks as part of its widespread attempt to influence the 2016 election
The members of the family have also not had an easy time after returning to Pakistan, and it seems as if they may have turned their backs on Imran Awan who remains imprisoned in the US. His wife recently filed a complaint in court against him for supposedly marrying a second wife without her consent.